Two held in connection with gold seizure

An air passenger and the employee of a private firm working at the airport have been arrested in connection with the seizure of one kg of gold, the Customs department said Friday.

Based on information about possible smuggling of gold, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs kept a close watch on passengers Wednesday night and found an employee of a private firm moving about in a 'suspicious' manner, a Customs release said.

On being questioned, he revealed he had received two packets from a passenger from Dubai, which he was supposed to hand back outside the airport, it said.

He had hidden them in the toilet.

The packets were later recovered and officials found nine gold bars and a gold 'cut bit', weighing in all one kg, it said.

The seized gold was valued around Rs 32 lakh, the release said, adding, the employee identified as K Murali, working with a firm doing civil work for airport authority, and the air passenger Rahuman Khan, were arrested.