Two airline staff,who facilitated gold smuggling through the airport here, were among five arrested and Rs 55 lakh of gold bars recovered from them by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials.

The duo and a passenger from Colombo, who handed over 16 gold bars over to them after arriving here by a Sri Lankan airlines flight Friday night, were nabbed as they exited the airport.

Based on the information given by the airline staff, an 'organiser' and another man waiting to receive the gold in a car about 1.3 km away from the airport were arrested while trying to escape, a DRI release said.

The five reportedly admitted to their involvement in the smuggling racket in return for lucrative money offered by a financier, the main accused, who is at large, the release said.

All the five were later enlarged on bail.

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