The Customs sleuths seized 1.8 kg of gold from seven hailing from Trichy and Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu who arrived from Kuala Lumpur at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
The passengers, including a woman, in the age group of 25 to 60 years, had arrived in a Malindo Air flight at the airport at 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. On suspicion, the Customs sleuths subjected them to frisking and interrogation and then shifted them to a hospital to recover the gold as they confessed to have swallowed the gold.
Six passengers had swallowed the gold in small pieces and another passenger had concealed two gold rods in the rectum, according to the Customs. The gold pieces numbering 53 weighed 25 gm on an average. Five passengers had swallowed nine gold pieces and one 8 pieces.
The gold recovered is worth ₹53 lakh and the arrested are carriers and regular flyers in the sector, Customs officials said. The seizure was effected by Customs Deputy Commissioner Vagish Kumar Singh and assisted by S. Pradeep Kumar, Reji P., Boby Aloysius, Veerachamy, Seetharaman, Salini, and S. Babu.
