5 kg gold seized at Coimbatore airport

Additional Commissioner of Customs N.J. Kumaresh (right), with his team displaying the 5-kilogram gold bars and cash seized at the Coimbatore Airport on Thursday. Photo:K.Ananthan

Customs officials seized five kg gold and Rs. 2 lakh from Mohamed Khan, 41, at the Coimbatore airport on Wednesday.

Additional Commissioner (Customs) N.J. Kumaresh told reporters here on Thursday that the gold seized was worth Rs. 1.26 crore.

This is the biggest gold seizure at the Coimbatore International Airport.

Khan, belonging to Pudukottai district, is an engineering graduate and frequently travels abroad.

Based on a tip-off, the Customs officials checked his baggage and found four gold bars each weighing one kg and 10 bars each weighing 100 gm wrapped in a denim cloth and kept in a trolley bag. He also had Rs. 2 lakh in cash with him.

“He might have been asked to deliver the gold to someone here,” Mr. Kumaresh said. Duty evasion amounts to Rs. 13 lakh to Rs. 14 lakh.

Mr. Kumaresh said that the Customs officials had seized 12.4 kg gold in 10 different cases in 2014.