The Air Intelligence Unit of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport seized nearly 310 grams of gold on Saturday in two different incidents. The value of the gold seized in two incidents was around Rs 14 lakh.
In the first incident, the officials found a passenger had gold bandaged underneath his feet. The passenger who alighted at the Bengaluru airport had pieces of gold strapped underneath his feet with bandages. Officials reportedly grew suspicious after they spotted his unusual gait.
The man in his late twenties belonged to Karwar in Uttara Karnataka had strapped gold weighing 116 grams below his feet with bandages. The gold was worth Rs 5.4 lakh. According to a Times of India report, he had arrived in the city from a Fly Dubai flight on Saturday morning. When he was questioned, he seemed extremely nervous, the officials told TOI. The man was nabbed by the sleuths of Bengaluru Customs.
In another incident, 194 grams of gold was seized from a passenger belonging to Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district. The 45-year-old person had also arrived from a Fly Dubai flight and was donning rhodium-coated gold jewellery to escape detention. The gold seized from the passenger was reportedly valued at Rs 9.03 lakh. Rhodium coating was used by the man in order to make it look like silver or metal ornamental jewellery.
The Bengaluru airport intelligence also seized foreign cigarettes on Saturday. A man had brought with him 147 packets of cigarettes. According to reports, the Mangaluru native had concealed 39 packets of Dunhill Switch Cigarette packets and 108 Esse Gold Cigarette packets in his check-in baggage. He had arrived from an Emirates flight from Dubai and the value of cigarette packets seized from him was Rs 5 lakh. The brands that he carried cannot be sold in India without a license, the officials were recorded saying.