Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Jun 8: Customs officers of Air Intelligent Unit and the batch officers at Mangaluru International Airport on Thursday June 8 busted a modus operandi of gold smuggling by three passengers by way of concealment in rectum.
The three passengers arrived on Thursday from Dubai by Air India and Jet Airways flights.
The officers, on careful profiling and screening, shortlisted the three passengers who were subjected to thorough interrogation. During the interrogation, the officers unearthed the details of smuggling by way of concealment in their bodies.
The contraband gold in the form of rectangular cut pieces of one kg gold bars totally weighing 1660.75 grams (1.6 kg) valued at Rs 49.15 lac was packed in carbon paper and black coloured adhesive tape.
The three passengers hail from Ulhasnagar, Thane in Maharashtra. They names have not been revealed.
Of the three passengers, two who had worked as a gang were arrested and produced before S G Gangadhar, principal civil judge (senior division) and chief judicial magistrate, Mangaluru, who remanded him in judicial custody.
"Due to several detections of contraband concealed in conventional items at Mangaluru airport, smugglers are now adopting new modus operandi to smuggle contraband by way of body concealment to hoodwink the department. However, the officers equipped with advance passenger information are abled to profile and zero-in on suspected passengers who are subjected to detailed enquiry and examination," stated a media release from the customs.
Further investigations are on.