Four held for smuggling gold worth Rs two cr at airport

Four persons, including a ground handling staff, have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold bars valued at about Rs two crore.
In the first case, a passenger was intercepted at the airport here by customs officials after his arrival from Dubai on Tuesday. He had allegedly handed over five gold bars of one kg each to a ground handling staff engaged by a private firm at the airport.
"Both the accused were arrested and gold bars were seized," a customs release today said.
The seized gold is valued at about Rs 1.26 crore.
Two more passengers were intercepted by customs officials on their arrival here from Bangkok on May 17. Both had arrived from separate flights and had concealed gold in their rectum, it said.

About 2.5 kg of gold valued at about Rs 60.19 lakh was recovered from both of them, the release said.
There has been a sharp rise in cases of gold smuggling across the country.
Customs officials at Delhi international airport have registered 363 cases of gold smuggling and seized 353 kg of the precious metal during 2013-14. The value of the seized gold is approximately Rs 90 crore, officials said, adding 123 people were arrested in these cases.