KOZHIKODE: Officials seized three kilos of gold from Karipur airport. Gold worth Rs 1.89 crore was seized. 1.47 kg of gold was found hidden inside the shoes of a passenger from Dubai and 1.53 kg of gold was found in the flush tank of the toilet.

Gold smuggling through Karipur airport has become widespread. Smuggling of gold in the form of a paste, inside the anus, inside underwear, and hidden inside household appliances is rampant. However, customs was able to nab most of the smugglers.

An attempt was made to smuggle 446 grams of gold in Karipur last week by hiding it inside shoes. One person was arrested by the police in this case. Muhammad Anas (23), a native of Kozhikode Narikkuni, who had come to Karipur from Dubai, was arrested.

The gold was hidden under the sole of the sandal worn by Anas. The police had said that 446 grams of gold were taken into custody and it is worth more than Rs 25 lakh.

Kerala is number one in gold smuggling through the country's airports, ports etc. Gold brought in without payment of tax will be included in the category of gold smuggling. In the last four years alone, 3173 cases have been registered in the state. This has been confirmed in writing by the Union Finance Ministry. The data is according to the Revenue Intelligence Report.

During this period 2291.51 kg of gold was seized from the state. This will cost more than one thousand crores in the open market. The daily average of gold smuggling cases in the state is 2.17.

According to the report released by the Ministry of Finance, Tamil Nadu is in the second position behind Kerala with 2979 cases and Maharashtra is third with 2528 cases. At the same time, officials say that the reason for the increase in the number of cases in Kerala is that the inspections at the airports have been tightened.