Man wears gold paste in underwear, arrested at Ahmedabad airport

AHMEDABAD: A team of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the customs department at Ahmedabad airport apprehended a man returning from Dubai on the basis of developed intelligence and found him attempting to smuggle 601.9g of 24-carat gold by concealing it in his underwear on Sunday.

The seized gold had a market value of Rs 96.06 lakh. Of the total quantity, about 278g — nearly half of the gold — was found concealed in the form of gold paste in the man's underwear. The passenger was apprehended and a further probe was initiated, customs officials said.

According to a release by the customs department, based on intelligence developed through passenger profiling, officers of the AIU, Ahmedabad customs, intercepted a male passenger who arrived from Dubai by a private air carrier.

"On examination, the passenger was found to conceal two gold bars and one cut gold bar, weighing 324.14g with purity 999.0 (24 Kt), with a market value of Rs 51.73 lakh, concealed inside his pocket purse," according to the release by the customs department.

"Further examination revealed gold in paste form concealed in the underwear worn by the passenger. On processing, gold weighing 277.8g with purity 999.0 (24 Kt), with a market value of Rs 44.33 lakh, was recovered," added the release. The gold was seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

Sources close to the development said that a "rubbery and stretchable" material was concealed between the cotton material of the underwear. "Between the layers, the gold paste was very finely pressed to make it like one layer. In all, the underwear weighed around 525g. The modus operandi was employed to hoodwink the checking point while returning to India. It is very likely that the gold was sent by a syndicate. Further probe into the sender and receiver is on," said sources.

This was the third instance of gold smuggling that was busted at the city airport in the past month. In one instance, three women were caught smuggling gold chains plated with zirconium, investigators said.