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700g of gold seized from passenger at Cial

Kochi: An attempt to smuggle in gold was thwarted by the Cochin International Airport Ltd ( Cial ) officials on Monday. The Customs Air Intelligence Unit officials seized around 700g of gold in paste form from a male passenger, who landed at the international terminal in a flight from Muscat. The man, a resident of Thalassery, was intercepted by the officials after noticing his suspicious behaviour when he approached the security check area.



Airport sources said that the man hid the gold inside his shoes by wrapping it onto his feet. “The gold in paste form was coated with plastic and he tightly wrapped it around his feet with adhesive tape. He then wore his socks and shoes to hide it. The officials noticed his suspicious walking style and passed the information to the security officials at the frisking area. Though his baggage were checked and his body was frisked, nothing could be found. But the hunch was proven right when the officers asked the man to remove his shoes,” said an official.

Nearly 80% of the gold could be extracted from the paste. The customs recorded the arrest of the man who was later released on bail. He will be summoned again for further interrogation. A probe has been launched to find out the buyer of the gold. The officials said that wrapping gold paste on the feet is a novel method followed by smnugglers.

Customs officials have strengthened surveillance at the airport after frequent seizures of gold, foreign currency and other commodities from passengers. Officials said that the smugglers are coming up with new modus operandi to escape the checking. The latest among them was reported last month, when a youngster from Malappuram tried to carry one kilogram of gold on his head after covering it with wig. In order to carry out the operation, he even shaved off the central part of his head.

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