Gold Smuggling Bust: Ingenious Concealment Uncovered at Airport

Customs officials at an international airport seized gold worth lakhs disguised as metal buttons in apparel and pieces inside an electric iron from two passengers arriving from Jeddah. The combined gold confiscated weighed nearly a kilogram, valued over Rs 75 lakh, thwarting a crafty smuggling attempt.

In a significant customs operation at an international airport, officers intercepted gold smuggling attempts by two passengers arriving from Jeddah. The culprits had ingeniously hidden the precious metal as metal buttons in clothing and inside an electric iron.

The customs department deployed spot profiling techniques to identify the suspects. An X-ray scan revealed suspicious images, prompting a thorough manual inspection. The first passenger's baggage contained 201 silver-coated rings, later identified as 24-carat gold buttons, weighing 379 grams and valued at Rs 29 lakh.

In a parallel case, another passenger's luggage was found with eight metal pieces, suspected to be gold, cleverly concealed inside an electric iron. The total weight of this second haul was 600 grams, estimated at Rs 46.80 lakh, bringing the total recovered value to over Rs 75 lakh.

(With inputs from agencies.)