Air Customs officials in the city recovered and seized gold worth Rs 12 lakhs and iPhones, cigarettes, used PCs valued at Rs 10.66 lakhs from two Dubai returnees.
According to officials, Sathik Abdul Mannan, 46, and Thamemun Ansari Abdul Rashid, 34, of Ramnathapuram, were intercepted based on the intelligence received by the customs department. Frisking revealed a total of 240 grams of 24K purity gold - two cut bits weighing 98 grams, and one gold paste bundle of 169 grams, which yielded 142 grams gold.
11 units of iPhone 12, 45 cartons of cigarettes of brands Gudang Garam and Benson & Hedges, and 11 refurbished Lenovo desktops, worth Rs.10.66 lakhs were recovered and seized from the checked-in baggage of the duo.
Thamemun Ansari Abdul Rashid was arrested as he had a previous offence against him.
On Monday, in two separate cases, Air Customs officials seized 239 grams of 24K purity gold worth Rs 12 lakhs and Saudi Riyals, US dollars worth Rs 6.5 lakhs.
According to officials, on Monday, Dubai returnee Mohammed Hasan Ali, 23, of Ramanathapuram had arrived via Emirates Flight EK 544. He was intercepted by a Customs officer as he was rushing through the green channel when his slippers happened to come off. The officer who tried to help pick his slipper found it to be unusually heavy.
On examination, gold paste was found concealed in the cavity between the extremely broad leather straps. Four gold paste packets- two from each slipper, weighing 292 grams were recovered. 239 grams of 24K purity gold valued at Rs. 12 lakhs was recovered and seized under the Customs Act.