A 36-year-old man travelling from
Dubai was arrested at Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport here for allegedly smuggling 696 gm of gold hidden inside a hammer, an official said on Thursday.
The smuggled metal is worth Rs 30 lakh as per the current market rate, he added.
Air India's Dubai-Indore flight (AI 904) landed at the airport in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, Customs Department's joint commissioner Devesh Gupta said.
Officials intercepted a passenger who was carrying a hammer weighing 1.4 kg in his luggage, he said.
When questioned about the presence of the hammer, the accused, hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow city, claimed that he was a labourer, he said
"Our officers cut the hammer with a saw and found a yellow layer and on cutting further, they discovered a hollow space in which 696 gm of gold was hidden," Gupta said.
The customs department is probing the involvement of an international smuggling racket in this case, he added.
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