Over 2 kg smuggled gold seized in Kerala, one held

Tightening its noose around gold smugglers in Kerala, Customs Thursday seized yellow metal weighing over 2 kg in two separate incidents and one person arrested.

In the first incident, 1.2 kg gold was seized from a person who arrived from Dubai via Tiruchirapalli airport in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

"Based on the intelligence inputs, the gold compound weighing 1.2 kg was seized by Customs(Preventive) Unit, Palakkad. The suspected career arrived from Dubai via Trichy Airport Terminal," Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar said.

He said the gold seized was concealed in a packet and four condoms.

The officer, however, refused to reveal his name as it would affect the ongoing investigation.

Customs sources said the passenger was part of a gang involved in gold smuggling.

He was allegedly carrying gold to his clients in Kerala.

Following the seizure, follow up raids were being carried out in number of places in Kerala, sources said.

The seizure was effected by the team of officers of Customs Preventive Division, Palakkad and led by Assistant Commissioner, Thrissur division, Davis T Mannath, sources said.

In another incident, a man from Ernakulam was arrested by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs at the international airport here for smuggling 1 kg gold.

The accused arrived here from Dubai, Kumar said.

Early this month, the anti-corruption wing of the CBI in Kochi had registered a case against nine people, including a customs official, in connection with a gold smuggling case through the Thiruvananthapuram airport.