Customs Air Intelligence officials at Nedumbassery on Tuesday foiled yet another attempt to smuggle gold, and seized the metal worth ₹68.8 lakh from an international passenger.
The person, a Palakkad native, landed here from Dubai in the morning, and was found carrying 20 pieces of gold, weighing a total of 2,332.8 grams. The passenger, who was apprehended at the exit hall, did not make any declaration about the gold and replied in the negative when asked whether he had any gold in his possession.
During a detailed examination, the sleuths found the gold pieces cleverly concealed inside batteries of a rechargeable light and a fan in his baggage.
According to officials, smugglers have an arrangement with some rackets, wherein the latter conceals gold inside electronic gadgets and gets them transported via cargo or courier service.
Since such cases cannot be detected using a scanner alone, officials are resorting to some conventional techniques such as weighing the suspicious object to assess if its overall weight has increased or not.
