Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs department on Monday morning detained a passenger who was allegedly trying to smuggle gold chains hidden inside tubes of toothpaste.
The passenger, identified as Altaf Shabbir, arrived from Dubai by a Jet Airways flight.
“A search of his baggage resulted in recovery of four gold chains valued at ₹7 lakh, concealed in four tubes of toothpaste of Colgate brand,” said an AIU officer.
The AIU also registered two cases between Saturday night and Sunday morning. A passenger identified as Faisal Paliwala, an Ahmedabad resident, and who had arrived from Bangkok by a Jet Airways flight, was stopped for a routine check based on passenger profiling. Mr. Paliwala was carrying four gold bars weighing 400 grams and worth ₹11.80 lakh. The gold bars were concealed in specially-made inner pockets in the waistband of the jeans.
“In the second case, a passenger named Kandathil Mohammed Rafi from Kasargod in Kerala, was stopped while carrying copper colour-coated gold wires weighing 587 grams. The wires, valued at ₹17.32 lakh, were stitched into embroidery panels of fabrics. Mr. Rafi had arrived from Dubai, where he works as a salesman,” the officer said.
