The Air Customs have intensified surveillance in the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in view of a recent spate of cases involving the smuggling of gold and cigarettes.
As many as 13 attempts of gold smuggling were foiled in January with the seized articles worth ₹5.16 crore and weighing a total of 8.815 kg.
According to official sources, the gold was found concealed in capsule form within the bodies of passengers in a majority of the cases. Gold in compound form was also found to be pasted in between the layers of packing cartons as well as shirts and socks worn by passengers.
The sleuths have also been witnessing an uptick in cases in which gold articles, which were kept concealed in flights during its international leg, were taken by other passengers in the domestic leg of the same flights. Three such cases in flights that landed in Thiruvananthapuram from Bengaluru. The passengers and the contraband were intercepted at the domestic terminal.
In the absence of customs screening at the domestic terminal, such cases were cracked through intelligence gathered from various sources. The trend is an indicator of racketeers pursuing uncharted routes and methods to smuggle gold to the capital city, the investigators point out.
There were also seized ten cases involving the seizure of smuggled cigarettes at the airport. A total of 1,62,832 sticks valued at ₹25.74 lakh were found to have been repackaged in packets of branded cigarettes. The passengers were intercepted and placed under arrest.
