Customs authorities at Kochi airport had a busy day, with three separate incidents of gold smuggling resulting in the seizure of over Rs 50 lakh worth of gold on Thursday and Friday. In one of the cases, a passenger arriving from Dubai, Sakaria, made a slick attempt to smuggle 216 grams of gold, worth Rs 11,63,981, hidden in five buttons sewn into three pairs of jeans, a hairclip, and a ring.
The second case involved Hisham Marshad, a passenger who had arrived from Bangkok on a Thai AirAsia flight. Acting on intelligence from the Kozhikode unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers intercepted Hisham and found two gold chains and two bangles weighing 500.6 grams, valued at Rs 26,97,633, concealed in his socks.
In the third incident, Ijas Ismail, a passenger from Sharjah on a GoAir flight, was found carrying three gold rings and one chain weighing 232.95 grams during a personal search. The gold was estimated at Rs 12,55,321, and officials seized it, with further legal proceedings underway. These incidents reflect the vigilance and efforts of customs authorities to combat gold smuggling at the airport.
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