Gold biscuits seized at Bhubaneswar airport

Officials of the Customs, Air Intelligence Unit at the Biju Patnaik International Airport today recovered gold weighing 355.120 grams from a passanger arriving from Thailand.

The officials seized five gold biscuits weighing around 355.12 gram valued at Rs 11,37,094 from a passenger who arrived here this evening by an Air India flight from Bangkok. The gold bisuits were hidden inside the rectum of the passanger, who hailed from Kozhikode in Kerala, a source said.

The man was detained by the Custom officials, who was planning to take these gold biscuits to Kerala via Bhubaneswar, the source added.

Customs officials said they grew suspicious doing the routine checking process. He was intercepted while trying to cross the green channel without declaring any dutiable item.

"On frisking, it was found that the passenger was hiding the gold biscuits in his rectum," an official said.

He has been detained under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

Several incidents of gold smuggling have been reported ever since the first international flight took off from here on April 26 last year.

On May 4, gold bars worth Rs 9.6 lakh were recovered from a passenger, and three days later another passenger was caught for carrying multiple gold bars weighing 5.82 kg worth around Rs 1.8 crore.

Both the passengers arrived from Kuala Lumpur, officials said.