Gold worth Rs 46 lakhs seized at Hyderabad airport

Hyderabad: Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here have seized gold valued at over Rs 46 lakhs from a passenger who arrived from Dubai, officials said on Thursday.

Sleuths of the air intelligence unit of Hyderabad Airport Customs intercepted the passenger coming from Dubai by Emirates flight EK 528.

The passenger had concealed the gold in paste form.

The total quantity of seized gold was 827.7 grams valued around Rs 46.51 lakhs. Further investigation is under progress.

This came a day after customs officials intercepted a passenger who had also arrived from Dubai on an Air India flight.

He had concealed the gold in paste form in undergarments, trousers.

The quantity of seized gold was 704 grams valued around Rs. 39.66 lakhs. Officials said further investigation was underway.

The airport has seen a series of gold seizures this month.

On December 16, Customs officials had intercepted a male passenger arriving from Dubai. They seized 24 karat gold weighing 957 grams valued at Rs 46,53,508 from him.

Earlier on December 12, gold amounting to 802 grams was seized from a passenger who had arrived from Dubai. He had concealed the yellow metal in paste form in the innerwear.

The biggest seizure was made on December 10. The officials had seized gold valued over Rs.1.37 crore from a passenger who arrived from Dubai.

The officials checked the baggage of the passenger and found 24 karat gold weighing 1,547 grams 18 karat gold jewellery weighing 1,414 grams.

The total value of the seized contraband was Rs 1,37,92,968.

On November 11, customs officials had seized gold worth Rs 2.8 crore from two passengers who had arrived from Dubai.