Smugglers nabbed, gold biscuits seized

The duo, in their early 20s, were intercepted and arrested by the officers after they arrived in a Sri Lankan Airline flight at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) on Friday. The gold biscuits weighing 2.4 kg are valued at around Rs 69 lakh in the open market.

The youths, who were reluctant to speak out initially, opened up after hours of grilling by the DRI officials. They were made to drink litres of water before the biscuits were removed.

According to the information given by them, they often travel to Colombo and collect biscuits from there. They are required to deliver them in Chennai. Since they find BIA safe, compared to the Chennai airport, they land in Bangalore and then travel to Chennai by road.

They also revealed that many youths, including women, are involved in the racket. They get Rs 1,000 for every consignment delivered. They practise ‘storing’ the biscuits by inserting old batteries in rectum. Once they are ready for the job, they are sent on assignments. They receive the consignment covered in a polythene sheet and they use gel to insert it in the rectum.

In the event of flight delays, they are forced to stay without eating or drinking for hours together.  At times, they take out the consignments from the rectum and put them back before walking out of the airport. The delivery men and women don’t even have an idea of the people behind the racket. Some people come with their faces covered with helmets and drop the consignment. Similarly, people come with their faces covered at Chennai and collect the consignments from them. Immediately after the biscuits are received, the payment is made in a sealed envelope.

The gang operates only in gold biscuits with seal and Swiss-make mark. However, the two youths from Tamil Nadu ran out of luck when an anonymous informer tipped the DRI office of their arrival. The informer said the youths are part of a huge network.