The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Cochin Customs foiled two bids to smuggle gold into the city.
In the first case, the passenger landed at the Nedumbassery airport from Bahrain in a Gulf Air flight in the early hours of Saturday. The man had kept three gold bars, weighing 100 grams each, concealed in the battery cavity of a mobile tablet. The tablet was kept in the baggage. The metal was recovered after Customs officials checked the baggage on a tip-off. The metal is worth ₹9.25 lakh.
Another passenger who arrived in an Indigo flight was caught with 294 grams of gold. He was checked on suspicion, and three gold bars weighing 116 grams each and another piece weighing 62 grams were seized from him.
