Indian airport officials seize gold worth over Rs10 million from Gulf passengers

The Air Intelligence Units (AIU) of the Indian Customs Department seized 1899.04 grams of gold worth more than Rs10 million at Kochi airport on Saturday in two instances, said an official statement.

The accused have been identified as Subair Sulaiman, a native of Palakkad district and Nisamudheen, a native of Thrissur district.

According to the customs officials, in the first instance, on the basis of profiling done by the officers of the Customs AIU batch, a passenger who arrived from a Gulf country to Kochi Airport by Air India flight AI 934 was intercepted at the green channel.

During the examination of the accused, three capsules of gold in a compound form, weighing 835.79 grams worth Rs 4.4 million concealed inside his body were recovered and seized.

Meanwhile, in the second instance, the passenger coming from yet another Gulf destination to Kochi Airport was intercepted at the green channel.

During the examination of the said passenger, four capsules of gold in a compound form, weighing 1063.25 grams worth Rs 5.7 million concealed inside his body were recovered and seized.

Both persons were taken into custody by Customs.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.

Earlier on Tuesday, AIU of the Customs department seized a total of 788.57 grams of gold worth Rs 3.8 million at Kochi airport, said an official statement.

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