24kg gold seized at Chennai airport, two South Koreans detained

CHENNAI: In yet another sensational seizure, Customs officials at the city airport on Saturday seized as much as 24kg gold worth Rs 8 crore from two South Korean women who were trying to smuggle it into the country.

Customs officials said Hanbyoul Jung, 26, and Eunyoung Kim, 26, had arrived from Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific flight CX 631. They have been detained and are likely to be arrested, sources said.

Customs officials had prior intelligence that a huge quantity of gold was likely to be smuggled into the country through some passengers. The two were initially questioned and found to be evasive with their replies. They were later taken for a thorough search, sources said.

During the search, a woman Customs officer found that both passengers were wearing mini shorts under their skirts and pajamas. The shorts had two pockets in the front and two at the back. The duo were found to have concealed three 1-kg gold bars in each pocket. Each passenger was therefore carrying 12kg of gold on them, customs sources said. The gold was of 24 karat purity and is valued at Rs 8 crore. It was seized under provisions of Customs Act, 1962.

This is not the first instance of South Koreans being caught smuggling gold into Chennai. On November 30, 2018, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 6kg of gold from a prominent Chennai-based businessman at a popular hotel in Mylapore, where two Korean women were staying. The duo admitted to smuggling the gold through Chennai airport and were arrested. In May 2018, Customs officials arrested two Chinese nationals found to have smuggled in 40kg gold worth Rs 12.6 crore, who also came through the Hong Kong route. In June 2018, another smuggler, from Karnataka, bringing in 13kg gold worth Rs 4 crore was busted.

Customs sources say such huge quantities of gold being seized at regular intervals in Chennai is unique. “This shows that the city’s airport has been porous for years and established syndicates have been ruling the roost. We are trying to break it,” said a source in Customs. There is also a perception that foreigners have it easy at customs checkposts in India, which encourages smugglers to use them as carriers of huge quantities of gold, sources said.