Four-and-a-half kilograms of gold worth more than Rs 2 crore was seized from a train passenger at the Kozhikode railway station in Kerala on Thursday. Railway Protection Force officials took Rajesh Singh Rajawat, a native of Rajasthan, into custody as he did not have the required documentation to carry the large amount of gold.
Rajesh was traveling via the Netravati Express. He had booked tickets from Thane to Ernakulam. He was caught while he tried to hand over the gold, in the form of ornaments, to some people in Kozhikode. Most of the seized gold was in the form of bangles.
As per reports, he had produced the required documents only for 2 kg of gold. However, the police speculate that these documents may have been forged. Rajesh has also not yet revealed where he got the gold from.
Meanwhile, 151 grams of gold was seized from Kannur International Airport on the same day. Shihan, a native of Kumbala in Kasaragod had disguised the gold as the chain attached to a ladies’ handbag. It is worth more than Rs 7 lakh.
Customs officials at the Mangaluru International Airport also seized over one kg of gold from a passenger. Abdul Rasheed, hailing from Paivalike of Kerala’s Kasargod district, was taken in to custody. He was reportedly hiding gold in plastic-sealed covers inside his trousers.
From the same airport, another Kasargod native Abdul Nissad Pulikur, was also arrested by officials while trying to smuggle 629 grams of gold. He was hiding gold concealed inside pens and the battery of an emergency light.
Just two weeks ago, more than 2.6 kg of gold was seized from two passengers at Karipur International Airport. Anil Kudlu from Kasargod and Johnson Varghese from Cherthala of Alappuzha were taken into custody by the air customs intelligence department. They arrived at Karipur from Sharjah via and Air India flight.