Gold worth Rs 87.6 lakh seized at Chennai International Airport

Customs officials seized a total of 1.70 kg of gold worth Rs 87.6 lakh from five passengers at Chennai International Airport on Saturday. Arriving from Dubai, the passengers were allegedly smuggling the gold hidden inside luggage, shoes and rectum.

"Based on intelligence input, five passengers including Nouffar(28) and Ahamed Ershad Ali (31) of Ramanathapuram, Nandha Kuma (23) of Kanchipuram, Muruganandam Mohan (38) of Chennai and Satham Usen (25) of Puddukottai, who arrived from Dubai by Air India Express Flight IX 1644 were intercepted at the exit on suspicion of carrying gold. On search, 16 gold cut bits weighing 597 grams were recovered from their hand baggage and four gold paste packets were recovered from which 701 grams of gold was extracted. Further, 3 bundles of gold paste weighing 428 grams were recovered from the rectum of one of them which yielded 398 grams of gold," read an official press release.

This is the fourth occurrence of the seizure of gold at Chennai International Airport in a week. On Friday, the customs officials seized gold worth Rs 49.6 lakh at the airport. The common thread in all these cases is that the passengers arrived from Dubai.

( With inputs from ANI )