Customs officials on Monday arrested a man arriving from the United Arab Emirates at the Kannur international airport after they found out that he was wearing double-layered pants laced with gold past worth ₹14 lakh.
Officials said, though he cleared the initial check, they got suspicious about the thick jeans he was wearing. After removing the artfully crafted jeans, they found gold paste filled in between. The officials said it took them almost two hours to remove layers to retrieve the paste. This is the first time they came across such a smuggling technique, they said.
“Air Intelligence unit at Kannur international airport seized 302 grams of gold in the form of a very thin paste, concealed within the double-layered pants worn by a passenger,” the Kochi customs unit said in a tweet.
Officials admitted gold mixed in the form of paste with some impurities is tough to trace, and smugglers resort to ingenious methods to dodge them.
Date seeds, thick bra straps, heavy belt buckles, shoe soles, sausages and gold paste are some of the methods smugglers resort to for smuggling gold in the country.
{{/usCountry}}Date seeds, thick bra straps, heavy belt buckles, shoe soles, sausages and gold paste are some of the methods smugglers resort to for smuggling gold in the country.
{{/usCountry}}Last year in Kozhikode, they arrested a passenger after detecting gold in his facemask. A woman passenger, carrying her baby, was found holding a water bottle made of gold. Officials said hiding gold in cavities and swallowing gold capsules are also common. Every day, they offer refreshingly new ideas to dodge the law, they said.
Kerala tops in the country in terms of gold seizure. Last year, around 550kg were seized from four airports, and Kozhikode airport tops the chart. Despite special flights, it continued unabated, statistics show.