400gm gold worth Rs 19 lakh seized at Jaipur airport

JAIPUR: The customs department seized around 400 grams of gold worth around Rs 19 lakh from a passenger who landed here from Sharjah on Wednesday. The passenger has not been arrested as the gold is within permitted limits.
“We intercepted one passenger who arrived from Sharjah by Air Arabia morning flight. After thorough examination of his baggage, 407.90 grams of gold valued at Rs 19,90,552 has been seized. The said gold was concealed in a vacuum cleaner and in an incense electric burner. Further investigation is going on”, said an official of customs department.
Last month, officials had seized 350 grams of gold from a passenger who landed from Dubai and in May another passenger coming from Sharjah was intercepted with the same amount of the precious metal.
Officials claimed that due to the lockdown, smuggling of gold had reduced as flights were limited, but as restrictions are being eased, they anticipate more seizures in the coming days. The gold seizures had also shown that smugglers have now switched to new ways of getting the precious metal illegally from abroad in India. Officials claimed that while smugglers used electronic items earlier to smuggle the gold, now they convert the metal into a part of the product.
Everything including sandals, iron, fountain pen and even human rectum are being used by smugglers to conceal gold in various forms, to smuggle into India.
According to officials, those involved in smuggling of gold keep changing airports. In the past seizures, it was also found that carriers were paid a very measly amount for carrying the gold and were mostly working class people who were given a ticket to home.