

South Korean customs officials have arrested nine Taiwanese nationals after busting a smuggling ring in which each unfortunate criminal held up to 24 pieces of gold in their rectum while passing through the airport. Each piece of gold weighed 225g, meaning that each smuggler may have had up to 5.5kg (12 pounds) of the metal up there at a time.

RocketNews24 translated news reports about the arrests, and reports:

According to customs officers, the Taiwanese smugglers would meet someone in a Seoul subway station after passing through the airport. There the gold would be extracted from the person. After that, they could enjoy a night on the town in the nation’s capital before returning to Taiwan the next day […]

The total value of all gold smuggled is said to be around 88 million Taiwanese dollars (US$3M). Korean customs say they got tipped off when noticing a Taiwanese passenger “acting suspiciously”

Inner Mongolia officials, ever so fond of this sort of thing, should take note.

[Image via RocketNews24]