Duo smuggle gold mixed with sandal paste

Custom Officials at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Sunday arrested two people who tried smuggling 1.3kg of gold worth Rs 41.31 lakh by concealing it in sandle paste.

Officials noticed Puthaan Veedu Samseer Ali who came from Dubai in an Air India flight and exchanged the sandals with Salman Faris C who had a ticket to fly from Goa to Bengaluru and sat next to him. They arrested both.

MR Reddy, additional Commissioner of Customs, said police caught the duo and recovered gold from the sandals. They were handed over to local police for further investigation.

On Saturday, officials caught Moideen Kunja Mohammed Shafi (47) who landed in KIAL from Kuala Lumpur by Malaysian Airlines. He wore one crude gold kada and one crude gold chain weighing 568 grams worth Rs 17.91 lakh and concealed it under the sleeves and the collar by fastening the buttons.

Similarly on Thursday, customs officers arrested Vinod Kumar Parasmal Jain (44) and Pinto Kumar (38) who landed by an Oman Air flight from Dubai via Muscat.

The duo wore gold kadas with silver coating on the arms below the clothing to conceal the chain. Officials seized two gold kadas of 333 grams worth Rs 10.50 lakh from them.

In total, officials recovered 2.15 kg of gold in the last few days worth Rs 69.75 lakh and arrested five persons.