Gold biscuits weighing about 10.25 kg were seized from two passengers on board a private bus by the officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Vandakottai near Aranthangi on Sunday.
Acting on a tip-off, the Customs officials conducted vehicle checks on the Aranthangi-Pudukottai highway in the early hours. They intercepted a Chennai-bound omnibus from Thondi in Ramanathapuram district and carried out a search on the passengers.
The officials found two passengers smuggling the gold biscuits from S.P. Pattinam near Thondi. They had concealed the valuables around the waist.
The two were taken to the Customs office at Aranthangi for interrogation. The exact value of the seizure was yet to be ascertained.
This is the second major seizure of gold in this region in the last one month.
The Tiruchi Customs Preventive Zone seized 18 pieces of gold weighing 4.5 kg and valued at Rs. 1.38 crore from a state transport corporation bus near Pudukottai on February 12.
The gold pieces were recovered from a rexine bag found abandoned in the bus.