Air Customs foils bids to smuggle gold worth Rs 33 lakh into Chennai

CHENNAI: Chennai Air Customs officials foiled bids to smuggle gold worth Rs 33.3 lakh concealed in Vaseline and hair gel on Sunday night.

Working on a tip-off, AIU officials intercepted Jinka Sudhakara, 46, of Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, who arrived from Kuwait by Flight KU 1343 of Kuwait Airways on suspicion of carrying gold.

On examination of his checked in baggage, two small plastic containers of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) were found among his personal effects. On opening these containers, 16 gold cut bits were recovered which were concealed in the jelly. A total of 365 grams of gold worth Rs 19.14 lakh were recovered and seized.

In another case, Thamimun Ansari, 33, of Chennai who arrived from Dubai by Air India Express Flight IX 1644 was intercepted at the exit. On examination of his checked in baggage, nine hair gel tubes with marking “Well New Wave” were found among his personal effects. On checking, the tubes which were found to be unusually heavy, contained a golden brown thick paste suspected to be gold paste. A total of 270 grams of gold valued at Rs 14.16 lakhs was recovered after extraction. Further investigation is under progress.

Earlier on Saturday, gold worth Rs 24 lakh was seized by Chennai Air Customs. According to a release, Rawther Naina Mohamed, 38, of SP Pattinam who arrived from Dubai by Air India Express Flight IX-1644 was intercepted and gold paste bundles concealed in his rectum were recovered. A total of 229 grams of gold valued at Rs 12 lakh was recovered and seized.

In another case earlier, Abdul Kadar Jailani, 34, of Madurai who arrived from Dubai by Air India Flight  AI 906 was intercepted at the exit. On a search of his person, two bundles of gold paste concealed in his rectum were recovered. A total of 228 grams of gold worth Rs 11.96 lakh was recovered and seized under the Customs Act.

Similarly, on Friday, 4.1 kg of gold worth Rs 2.16 crore was seized by Chennai Air Customs. Three persons were arrested in this regard.