Gold worth ₹2.24 crore was seized from an Air India aircraft by customs officials at the Chennai airport on Tuesday.
Based on information that gold was likely to be smuggled, a team of officials checked the Air India flight AI 906 which arrived from Dubai. The international flight was to be converted into flight AI 440. It was meant to fly to Delhi from Chennai, on its domestic run.
When the officials rummaged through the flight, four bundles wrapped in black adhesive tape were found concealed in the rear toilet of the aircraft.
When the bundles were cut open, 48 gold bars of 10 tola each with foreign markings, totally weighing 5.6 kg valued at ₹2.24 crore were recovered and the same were seized as unclaimed under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962.
The Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International airport said in a press release, that further investigations were on.
