Smuggled gold worth Rs 1 crore was seized from two passengers at Cochin International Airport on Monday. Haseena of Kunnamkulam and Shemi Shanavas of Malappuram were caught with more than 250 sovereigns of gold in the form of biscuits. Haseena arrived at Kochi from Dubai, and Shemi arrived from Sharjah, both via Air Arabia flights. The Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department found the gold hidden inside the clothes that the two women were wearing.
Cases of gold-smuggling are commonly seen at the Cochin International Airport. In the first week of November, 3.5 kilograms of gold was seized by the Customs, the worth of which was estimated at Rs 1.25 crore. Three passengers from Dubai, who landed at Nedumbassery via different flights, were arrested.
On October 27 as well, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) intercepted four passengers who arrived at the airport from Dubai with more than 5 kg of gold. In these cases, arrests are made by the DRI as well as Customs Intelligence.
Last August, two kilograms of gold worth Rs 84 lakh was seized at the Cochin International Airport. The gold was found in the form of a paste, and a passenger who had arrived from Abu Dhabi was arrested. The month before that, in March 2020, around Rs 75 lakh worth of gold was seized. Two Malappuram natives were arrested. One of them, who came in from Dubai, had hidden the capsule-shaped gold in his rectum.
Apart from the Cochin International Airport in Nedumbassery, smuggled gold is seized from the Calicut International Airport almost every month. DRI officers seized around 10 kg of gold from six people, including a cabin crew member of an Air India Express flight, last week. They came by a Dubai flight.