A man who was carrying 102 kilo of gold bars has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle gold bars at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. The accused, a resident of neighbouring Ghaziabad, was intercepted by customs officers after his arrival from Bangkok on Saturday night.
Customs officials frisked him thoroughly as he looked a bit jittery. His personal search led to the recovery of 16 gold bars concealed inside the insoles of the shoes that he was wearing. The gold bars were sewn meticulously inside the soles. Custom officials were flabbergasted as the accused has managed to hoodwink the custom officials at the Bangkok international airport.
“The recovered gold bars totally weighed 1,220 grams (about 1.2 kilo) and was collectively valued at Rs 28.77 lakh,” a customs official said. The gold bars were seized and the passenger was arrested, he said, adding that further investigation was continuing.
Meanwhile, the Customs officials held one more person identified as Nellikonu Abbas at the airport and recovered two cylindrical objects made of gold weighing 350 grams which he was hiding in his rectum. The gold was worth Rs 8.5 lakh. The accused had landed in Mumbai from Dubai, officials said adding that he was intercepted in the last 24 hours.