Customs seize gold worth Rs 29 lakh; 3 arrested

Three passengers who had concealed 1.5 kg of gold paste mix in their rectums were arrested by Customs officials at the Kempegowda International Airport.

The gold mix, when melted and separated, yielded 97% pure gold, estimated to be worth Rs 29.27 lakh.

According to Customs Department, the arrested passengers are Mohamed Sharkhan Zahir Hussain, Mohamed Haroon and Ansari Mohammad Ibrahim. The trio had arrived at the airport on Friday morning and were profiled by the officials based on prior information.

When the three were frisked with handheld metal detectors, they were found to have concealed gold in paste form. The gold paste mix with unknown chemicals were found in pellets in their rectums in plastic pouches, wrapped in black insulation tape.

While Zahir and Haroon boarded the flight from Sharjah, Ibrahim boarded the same flight as a domestic passenger at Dabolim Airport, Goa. Ibrahim was handed over two pellets of gold paste inside the flight by Zahir, who then concealed them inside his rectum aboard the Goa-Bengaluru flight.

All three were caught by Customs at the airport, who found six pellets on these passengers weighing a total of 1,508 gm. Each of the arrested had two pellets - weighing 250 gm each. After melting and separating the chemicals in the mix, officials were able to recover 843 gm gold of 97.05% purity.

A gold ring and chain pieces weighing 71 gm were also seized from the accused.