Almost four days after the Air Intelligence unit (Customs) at Visakhapatnam International Airport intercepted and took into custody three passengers for allegedly trying to smuggle gold, the department on Wednesday stated that 673 gms of gold was recovered from them.
Based on intelligence inputs, officers of Air Intelligence unit intercepted the three Indian passengers, who arrived at Visakhapatnam from Kuala Lumpur by Air Asia flight No. AK-083 at the Green Channel on Saturday. On enquiry, the accused said they were not in possession of any dutiable goods on person or in their baggage.
With the response not being satisfactory, the officers conducted search with a metal detector, which indicated the presence of some metal objects with them. On persistent interrogation, all the three passengers admitted that they have concealed gold on their person. All the three passengers were admitted to King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam, so that the gold hidden in their stomach could be brought out under medical supervision.
After fours days of medical procedure, the Customs recovered gold weighing 673 grams in total, in the form of balls (24 Nos.), chain links and cylindrical bars (3 Nos.), which have a market value of about ₹21.87 lakh.
It was revealed during investigation that the gold articles were ingested in two cases and inserted inside the rectum in another case to avoid detection by Customs at the time of clearance. Further investigation is in progress.
