Gold worth Rs 40 lakh seized at Chennai airport; 1 held

Chennai: Gold worth Rs 40 lakh has been seized in two separate incidents at the airport here and one person arrested in this connection, Customs officials said on Thursday.

In one incident, the sleuths of the air intelligence wing, on specific inputs, intercepted a passenger on his arrival from Dubai and recovered Rs 21.8 lakh worth of gold concealed in his rectum.

The passenger was arrested, a press release from the Customs said.

In the other incident, the authorities recovered gold plates and coins from an individual who was walking in a suspicious manner.

On interrogation, the individual confessed to carrying gold plates and gold coins and said he was directed to hand them over to a person waiting outside the airport.

The Customs officials took the individual to identify the person outside the airport and later detained the two, the release said.

The value of gold seized in the second incident was Rs 18.21 lakh and an investigation was on, it said.