THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While checking the passport of Trichinapally native and 28-year-old Vandana, one thing came to the notice of Customs officers.

To elicit more information from her, she was called to the Customs office and questioned further. She told the officers that she is a garment merchant and she frequently flew to Malaysia to purchase apparels.

After that, Vandana started making contradictory statements, instilling more doubts in the minds of the officers. Later a woman officer was called in to question her thoroughly. Hours of questioning made her spill the beans. She said that she frequented Malaysia to smuggle gold into India.

Vandana had hidden in her body small gold pipes, each weighing half kilogram. She arrived in India from Malaysia last Sunday night in Malindo Airways.

After she gave the statement before the Magistrate that she had hidden gold in her body parts, the customs officers took her to a private hospital with the permission of the magistrate and the gold was taken out from her body.