Hyderabad: The customs department officials seized gold worth over Rs.58.8 lakh from a passenger at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad here.
Following a tip-off, the customs officials intercepted a passenger, who came from Abu Dhabi and checked him thoroughly. They then found that the passenger made the gold into capsules after making it into power and hid it in his private parts.
Officials detained the passenger and seized the capsules containing 806 grams of gold from the passenger. The customs department succeeded in nabbing the passengers after stepping up surveillance on passengers returning to Hyderabad from gulf countries.
Gold smugglers are also found to be using RGIA as a transit halt to smuggle the yellow metal from the Middle East with the help of passengers known to them and later transport it to Mumbai and other metropolitan cities where the gold demand is high, according to sources.
