Hyderabad Customs seize over 2 Kg of gold worth Rs 1.37 cr: Officials

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 5 : Hyderabad Airport Customs on Wednesday seized over 2 Kg of gold valued at over Rs 1 crore in three separate cases and over 1 lakh cigarette sticks at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, officials said.

In a concerted action, based on passenger profiling and surveillance, Hyderabad Customs seized 2.279 Kg of smuggled gold valued at Rs 1.37 Crores, in three separate cases, and more than 1 lakh smuggled Cigarette sticks, in one case, they said.

In the first case, the smuggled gold weighing, 1196 gms. valued at Rs 72 lakhs was seized.

"Gold was concealed behind aircraft seat in paste form in an aircraft which had arrived at Hyderabad from Ras-al-Khaimah, UAE," said an official.

"In the second case, 752 gms of smuggled gold valued at Rs 45 lakhs was recovered from a passenger who had arrived from Kuwait via Dubai. In the third case, 331 gms of smuggled gold, valued at Rs 20 lakhs, was seized from a passenger from Sharjah. Gold was concealed in paste form in the undergarment of the passenger," the official added.

Also, a total of 1,01,000 smuggled cigarette sticks were seized from three passengers who arrived from Cambodia via Bangkok, they added.