5.33kg of gold worth Rs 1.76 crore seized from passengers at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: Customs officials at Chennai international airport seized 5.33kg of gold, worth Rs 1.76 crore, in different cases on Saturday.
Based on specific intelligence, the officials intercepted Ubaidullah,35, of Chennai, Mohamed Azarudeen, 23, of Trichy and Yasar Arafath,25, of Sivaganga, who arrived here from Dubai in an Emirates flight, and Mohamed Abdulla,26, of Ramanathapuram who arrived from Colombo in an IndiGo Airlines flight.
They recovered four gold cut bits weighing 238 gram and valued at Rs 7.85 lakh from Ubaidullah's checked-in baggage.
When other three passengers were searched, gold in rubbery material concealed in their rectums was recovered. On extraction, 563 gram of gold valued at Rs 18.57 lakh was recovered. In these four cases, a total of 801 gram of gold valued at Rs 26.43 lakh was seized.
The officials got info that gold was likely to be concealed in Air India flight AI 274 arriving here from Colombo on Saturday night and was to fly to Hyderabad in its domestic leg. They searched the flight on its arrival and found one bundle of rubbery spread covered with adhesive tapes. The bundle was kept in the rear toilet of the aircraft.
On extraction through heating treatment, gold weighing 894 grams and valued Rs 29.50 lakh was recovered.
On Saturday night, 14 female passengers were intercepted at the exit of customs arrival hall. On examination, gold in rubbery material was found concealed in their rectums.
On extraction by heat treatment, 14 ingots of gold weighing 3.64 kg and valued Rs 1.2 crore were recovered.