Two held for smuggling gold powder at Bengaluru airport

Customs officials at the Kempegowda International Airport on Monday arrested a 33-year-old passenger from Mumbai who was trying to pass through customs clearance with 1,510 gm of gold powder concealed in his waist pouch.

Fakruddin Rukmuddin landed at the airport by an Indigo flight from Dubai and was walking out through a green channel, a green line at the customs clearance in airports, meant for passengers who have no goods to declare for duty to be paid.

Rukmuddin caught the attention of customs officials. After his profiling, officials intercepted him and took him for an inspection.

“A detailed body scanning led officials to recover the gold powder from his waist pouch which he had concealed by mixing it with a gum and other material to make a paste out of it,” said Harsh Vardhan Umre, Additional Commissioner, Customs.

The waistband looks similar to the band worn by people with back problems. As the passenger was walking through the green channel, customs officials observed his gait to be looking abnormal.

Earlier in another case, gold biscuits weighing 593 grams valued at Rs 18.72 was seized from a passenger Mohammed Qadir from Uttar Pradesh.

He arrived from Dubai on Saturday. The customs officials detained Qadir after a detailed examination revealed that he had concealed the gold biscuits in an electrical device. The gold biscuits wrapped in black insulating tapes were hidden in a battery of an electrical device.

In another case, the customs officials arrested Thameemull Haq and recovered gold jewellery weighing 1,037 gm worth Rs 32.63 lakh from him. Haq had arrived from Dubai and landed at KIA on Thursday.

Based on the inputs from the Goa customs, the passenger was intercepted at the city airport and the smuggled gold that was concealed in the baggage was recovered.