Capsules of gold swallowed by 8 plane passengers recovered

Chennai, Jan 31 (PTI): A total of 4.15 kgs of gold worthRs 2.17 crore were recovered from plane passengers, who hadswallowed capsules of gold, at the city airport here, Customsauthorities have said.

The capsules of the precious metal were swallowed andseven of the eight passengers were arrested, Commissioner ofCustoms Rajan Choudhry said.

Each capsule weighed about 15-24 grams and in total 222capsules were recovered from the stomachs of all the eightpassengers.

Based on specific inputs, the air intelligence wingofficials intercepted eight passengers, including four women,who arrived from Dubai and Sharjah on January 22 on suspicionand during interrogation, the passengers confessed to thecrime.

The passengers had told the authorities that they hadswallowed gold paste in capsules before departing. Thepassengers were admitted to the Stanley Government Hospitalin the city to recover the capsules under expert medicalsupervision.

''The process of recovery was cumbersome as the passengerswere fed with a heavy diet to facilitate ejection of thecapsules of gold in a natural way,'' Commissioner of CustomsRajan Choudhry said in a press release.

To complete the entire process, it took eight days, hesaid, adding that the earlier modus operandi of smuggling ofgold was by concealing the metal in paste form in the rectum.

Gold concealed in hand-bags and pant pockets of thepassengers was also recovered, he said.

One of the eight passengers was not arrested as the valueof gold seized was lesser than Rs 20 lakh which is themaximum amount that attracts detention of the smuggler, theofficer told PTI.

In total, 4.15 kgs of gold worth Rs 2.17 crore were seizedand the seven were arrested.

Further investigation was on.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)