There has been a quantum jump in the seizure of gold brought illegally at Tiruchi international airport this fiscal. A five-fold increase has been recorded this financial year in respect of the seizure of the yellow metal by the Customs Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) at the airport.
The rise has been witnessed in the number of cases booked and the quantity of gold seized from the illegal possession of air passengers at the airport from where overseas flights were being operated to Colombo, Dubai, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur every day.
Notwithstanding vigil at the airport, smugglers had adopted different modus operandi to conceal gold in a bid to avoid detection. This is evident from the string of seizures made by the AIU officials at periodic intervals.
The techniques and modus operandi adopted by the smart smugglers to conceal gold have been diverse on various occasions. Gold was found concealed in footwear, locks, punching machine, marker pens, printers, bathing soap, utensils, induction stove, car audio amplifier, hair bands, hair trimmer, DVD player, and rectum, say airport sources. On a few occasions, AIU officials have confiscated abandoned gold bars left inside the toilet of Tiruchi airport.
The seizures were made based on inputs and detection through x-ray baggage scanners and door-frame metal detectors. There have been instances of Customs officials receiving information from their counterparts from other airports regarding smuggling of gold, says a senior official.
