Gold weighing 14.9 kg, valued at around Rs 7.89 crore was seized from 23 women passengers, all Sudan nationals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, Customs officials said on Thursday. In the recent past, this is one of the biggest seizures of gold by Hyderabad Customs at the RGI airport, they said.
Based on passenger profiling and intelligence, the Air Intelligence Unit of Hyderabad Customs in coordination with officers of Airport Customs intercepted 23 passengers at RGIA who arrived from Sudan via Sharjah by a flight on Wednesday.
On thorough search of passengers luggage and also the persons, it was found that the passengers had concealed the gold at different places such as small cavities created in the shoes, gold tied under the feet and also hidden folds of their clothes etc, a release from Customs said. All four have been taken into custody and further investigation is on, said police.
Customs officials seized a total of 14.9063 kg gold in which 14.415 kg of 22 karat and 0.491 kgs of 24 karat gold valued at total of Rs 7,89,43,544.
Based on the quantity recovered from individual passengers, four of them were arrested, it said.
(With inputs from agencies)