A 19-year-old woman from Malappuram, who returned from Dubai, was arrested from outside the Karipur Airport on Monday morning, December 26, for allegedly smuggling close to two kilograms of gold. The woman identified as Shahala allegedly smuggled the gold, worth around Rs 1 crore, by keeping it in the undergarments she was wearing, police said.
An officer of Karipur police station said that three packets of gold, in mixed paste form, were sewn into her undergarments. The contraband was not detected by Customs personnel at the airport, but the police, based on a tip, were waiting for the 19-year old woman at the terminal's parking area, the officer said.
Acting on the tip off, Malappurram Superintendent of Police (SP) Suchith Das and his team took the woman into custody after she had successfully cleared the Customs at the airport late on Sunday night. She denied the allegation at first, but on examining her, the packets of gold were found, he said. The seized gold weighed around 1.88 kg, the officer added.
Speaking to TNM, Karipur police said that the gold and her passport has been handed over to the court and further action will be taken by the customs department. According to reports, the customs department has started a preliminary investigation into the matter.
According to The New Indian Express, she had claimed that she went to Dubai to attend an interview. However, she later confessed that the smuggling racket had offered her Rs 60,000 for doing the work. “We have been implementing a new system at the airport since last March to nab smugglers. In this short period, we were able to foil 87 gold smuggling attempts,” Sujith Das told TNIE.
(With inputs from agencies)