Six passengers detained for smuggling gold. Gold biscuits found in sandwich maker, hair straightener

In a string of gold smuggling instances detected at the Tiruchi international airport, officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs seized gold weighing 1,399 grams concealed in different modes from six persons in the late hours on Wednesday and early hours on Thursday.

Of the six travellers who were detained upon detection of concealment of gold, three were domestic passengers who landed Tiruchi by an Air India Express flight from Chennai.

Airport sources said the AIU officials seized three gold biscuits weighing 300 grams concealed in a bread toaster from Abdul Jabbar, of Mudukalathur, who arrived by a Tiger Airways flight from Singapore on Wednesday night. The officials confiscated six gold biscuits weighing 600 grams concealed in a sandwich maker and hair straightener from Mohamed Sherif who came from Malaysia by a Malindo Air flight.

Seizures were made from three domestic passengers —Mohamed Mukhadir, Ismail, and Samsugani — who concealed gold pieces in their trouser pockets totally weighing over 300 grams. The three landed in Tiruchi by an Air India Express flight from Chennai.

In another instance, the officials seized 100 grams gold from Mohamed Rizwan who travelled as an international passenger in the same Air India Express flight. The valuable was found concealed in his rectum.