It seems the Biju Patnaik International Airport here is fast turning into a safe haven for gold smugglers. Though there have been a number of seizures, still efforts are being made to smuggle the yellow metal. In a glaring example, officials of the Customs Air Intelligence Unit seized gold worth over Rs 8 lakh from a passenger at the airport on Saturday.
The market value of the seized gold weighing 254.47 grams has been estimated about Rs 8, 20,156, said Customs officials.
The accused passenger was detained after customs officials found his activities suspicious. He had arrived by an Air India flight A1-399 from Bangkok.
According to reports, the accused had concealed the gold in his rectum in form of powder wrapped in black tape and polythene like capsules. “After opening the suspected items in which gold was mixed in powder form, treatment of the brown paste in laboratory resulted in gold,” the officials said.