LUCKNOW: A Lucknow-bound air passenger landed in jail on Monday after customs sleuths at the airport caught gold worth Rs 15.42 lakh hidden in the wig he was wearing.
The man was caught early Monday morning after he alighted from an Indigo flight from Sharjah.
According to the official, “The passenger was intercepted after we suspected something unusual about him. His profile did not match with regular passengers of international flights, plus his hair had different shine and shade. So, when one of our men questioned the passenger, he got nervous.”
“The suspect was brought out of the passenger queue and searched. We found that the accused was wearing a wig over his natural hair and between the layers of his hair and wig, he had hidden 291 grams of gold which was packed in black pouch and glued on his scalp but beneath the wig,” said the official.
Ajay Kumar Mishra, joint commissioner of customs said, “Some five months back, our team had caught a similar kind of courier/mule. Such youth are paid Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 to smuggle gold in the country. The gold seized on Monday morning was to be delivered to the national capital region.”
According to the customs department, the arrested youth hails from Meerut district
