Like straight out of a film scene, a passenger who hid gold in a slipper and tried to escape was caught at Chennai airport on Monday.
Mohammed Hasan Ali, 21, hailing from Ramanathapuram, arrived from Dubai and was heading to the exit when his slippers came off. An official standing nearby went to help him and picked up the slipper. He grew suspicious as the slipper was unusually heavy, according to a press release.
The officials examined his footwear only to find that gold paste in packets were concealed within the straps. After the paste was extracted, Chennai Air Customs officials recovered 239 g of gold worth ₹12 lakhs, the release said.
In one more case, Sahubar Sathik, a 21-year-old also from Ramanathapuram was held as he was going to the security hold area to board a flight to Dubai. Officials checked his baggage and found US $7,000 hidden within the hand baggage and 7,000 Saudi Royals inside his wallet. They were seized subsequently.
