Bid to smuggle 1.19 kg gold foiled at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: The Chennai Air Customs has foiled bids to smuggle 1.19 kg gold worth Rs 59.85 lakh at the Chennai Airport. Working on a tip off that gold was likely to be smuggled from Dubai by concealing it somewhere in the aircraft itself, the officers thoroughly checked an Indigo aircraft.

They found a specially designed cloth pouch concealed in a hollow pipe portion of one of the seats. Six gold cut bits weighing 1 kg, valued at Rs 50 lakh, were recovered from the pouch and subsequently seized.

In another case, a customs officer intercepted Vivek  Manokaran (30) of Vellore who had arrived from Dubai. Four gold cut bits were found wrapped with cello tape and attached to the straps of the passenger’s sandals. The bits weighing 199 grams, valued at `9.85 lakh, were seized under the Customs Act.