Customs officials seize gold worth Rs 1.76 crore at Chennai airport in two search operations

Chennai: Customs officials, in two operations, seized gold worth Rs 1.76 crore from 18 people in separate incidents at Chennai Airport. The suspects have been identified as Ubaidullah (35) from Chennai, Mohamed Azarudeen (23) from Trichy, Yasar Arafath (25) from Sivaganga, Mohammed Abdulla (26) from Ramanathapuram. They had arrived from Colombo and were suspected of carrying gold.

During their search, officials recovered four gold biscuits weighing 238 grams valued at Rs 7.85 lakh from Ubaidullah's bag, and three passengers were found to have gold concealed in a rubbery material inside their rectum.

In these four cases, 801 grams of gold valued at Rs 26.43 lakh was seized as per the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

On Saturday night, 14 female passengers were stopped at the exit of customs arrival hall after they were suspected of carrying gold. After the examination, gold placed in a rubber material was found concealed in their rectum. The recovered gold weighed nearly 3.64 kilograms, worth Rs 1.2 crore.

A total of 5.33 kilograms of gold was seized by customs officers.