Attempted to smuggle gold worth Rs 35 lakhs by hiding it in underwear and socks; two people arrested

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Customs officials on Wednesday confiscated gold worth Rs 35 lakhs from two passengers at the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The two attempted to smuggle gold by hiding it in socks and underwear. While one of them arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on a Sri Lankan Airways flight from Colombo, the other arrived on an Indigo flight from Sharjah.

The passenger from Sri Lanka tried to smuggle the gold by hiding it in his underwear. Gold biscuits worth Rs 20.12 lakh weighing 320 grams were seized from him. The passenger, who came from Sharjah, hid the gold inside his socks after covering it with black paper.

The other day, the Air Customs Intelligence Department had arrested a passenger who attempted to smuggle gold by hiding it inside an Apple mobile phone at the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The passenger, who reached Thiruvananthapuram on an Air India Express flight from Abu Dhabi, attempted to smuggle 182.44 grams of gold.