A local court on Monday sentenced a 65-year-old woman to 10 months in prison and a 38-year-old woman to six months in prison, suspended for two years, for smuggling gold nuggets into South Korea from China by stashing them in their rectums.



The Incheon District Court also ordered the pair, a visiting housekeeper and a company employee, to pay penalties of 4.27 billion won and 360 million won, respectively.



According to the court, the visiting housekeeper has been indicted for smuggling 440 gold chunks with a weight of 200 grams each, to South Korea via Incheon airport, west of Seoul, from Yantai, northwestern China, on 85 occasions from September 2015 to January 2017.







This undated file photo, released by the customs office in Incheon, west of Seoul, shows gold nuggets that two women smuggled from China to South Korea. (Yonhap)



The other woman, the company worker, has been accused of smuggling 40 gold chunks with a weight of 200 grams each, to South Korea from China on eight occasions from September-November 2015.



The two received 400,000 won, besides air fares and hotel costs, for each transportation of gold from their acquaintances who asked them to do so.



The gold had been processed into small nuggets and hidden in their rectums so that they could clear immigration and customs at the airport.