More than 10kg (22lb) of the precious metal found on two flights landing at Madurai international airport in Tamil Nadu

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Indian customs authorities have discovered 29 people hiding gold in their rectums on two flights that landed at a southern airport on Sunday.

More than 10kg (22lb) of the precious metal were found on at least 37 passengers on the two flights from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, that landed at Madurai international airport in Tamil Nadu.

Some had wedged the pieces, ranging from 30 to 600 grams, into their hand-luggage or children’s pushchairs. Others opted for a more “ingenious way of concealment”, according to India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the law enforcement agency that intercepted the passengers.

Upon “thorough examination”, the DRI said, the nuggets were discovered and confiscated by authorities. The total value of the haul was about 30m rupees (£35,000).

The smugglers were permitted to walk free as no individual was carrying enough to meet the criminal threshold.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Some of the gold seized by authorities at Tamil Nadu airport on 8 October. Photograph: Indian Directorate of Revenue Intelligence

Gold is hugely popular in India, traditionally worn by brides, donated to Hindu temples as offerings, or given as part of dowries from all but the poorest families. As the country’s middle class has grown, so has demand.

Indians are thought to hold about $1tn (£758.2bn) in private gold. A temple in Kerala was discovered in 2011 to be storing about $22bn-worth of the metal in its vault.

Gold is the country’s second-largest import, after crude oil, and attracts customs fees that make smuggling a temptation for individuals and syndicates.

In the 2016-17 fiscal year, the DRI recovered about 560kg of illegally smuggled gold and arrested 188 people.

A spokesman for the DRI said Sunday’s haul was far from the largest – a 2015 operation netted almost 64kg of gold smuggled by three entire planeloads of passengers.

“The uniqueness of this case is that huge numbers of people concealed the gold in their rectums,” he said. “Rectum concealment by this many guys is a first.”