Gold worth Rs 10.56 L seized at airport

After a few days’ lull, Customs officials again on Friday seized gold worth Rs 10.56 lakh from two passengers, who arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here from Kuala Lumpur.

The cylindrical gold bars weighing 340 grams were seized from two Indian-origin passengers. Sources said that the gold was being smuggled from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai via Bhubaneswar.

Both the passengers were detained after the officials found their activities suspicious upon their arrival at the airport. The gold was recovered from their baggage after a thorough frisking. It was the first major seizure of gold in the past one month.

Sources said that there was a sharp decline in the number of seizures of smuggled gold following an intensive crackdown by officials of the Customs Department at the airport.

Notably, after international flights started operating from the airport, there has been a spurt in gold smuggling incidents.

Those who are smuggling gold are under the impression that as international operations have started here recently, it would be easier for them to avoid detection. But the vigilant Customs sleuths have proved them wrong and made a number of seizures.