Gold worth 95 lakh seized in Kochi

KOCHI: Customs on Thursday seized 30 gold bars, weighing 3.5kg from a passenger at Cochin International Airport Ltd. The bars worth Rs 95 lakh were smuggled by 25-year-old Jazeer hailing from Thamarassery.
He arrived at the airport from Dubai in an Emirates Flight at around 9am. Officials became suspicious when Jazeer tried to hurriedly walk through the green channel. When officials questioned him, Jazeer denied carrying any contraband.
He showed them customs declaration reading 'nil' on dutiable goods. But in detailed scanning, 30 gold bars were found concealed in his bag. Each bar weighed 116.600g.
Eighteen bars were concealed inside the transformer of a car battery charger and the remaining 12 bars in the battery slot of an emergency light. All the gold bars were wrapped in carbon paper.
On Tuesday, customs preventive commissionerate had seized nine gold bars worth Rs 25 lakh from a passenger hailing from Kodungallur. He brought gold bars concealed in his rectum. He also arrived from Dubai in an Emirates Flight.
Officials said Jazeer is a carrier and he went to Dubai on visiting visa only a month ago.