BackIndiGo passenger caught smuggling gold worth ₹69 lakhs in slippers. Video
The person who travelled in Indigo flight 6E 76, was intercepted at the Bengaluru airport and asked about his purpose of visit to India
PremiumIn the bizarre chain of incidents in how people try to smuggle gold, drugs and other illegal substances during air travel, the latest addition was slippers. Slippers worn during a journey between Bangkok and Bengaluru on an IndiGo flight.
The traveller was intercepted in the Bengaluru airport. According to Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the man was trying to smuggle gold worth ₹69 lakhs in his slippers, when he came to Bengaluru.
The CBIC shared a video of the incident. The man was stopped at the Bengaluru airport when he was asked about the purpose of his visit on 12 March. The man was travelling in Indigo flight 6E 76.
Customs officials asked the man the purpose of his visit. The man said he was travelling for medical reasons but could not furnish proper documents to support his claim, which raised suspicions.
It is then the custom officials put the man through a thorough body check and his luggage and slippers were scanned, which revealed the presence of hidden gold.
According to CBIC, gold weighing 1.2 kg with 24 kt purity was seized from the IndiGo passenger. Footage of the seizure has been viewed 1.8 million times on Instagram.
CBIC informed that the man was hiding four pieces of gold in the slippers
See the video here
"The passengers reached Bengaluru from Bangkok on an IndiGo Airways flight were stopped for checking. A total of four pieces embedded in the false cavity of slippers were seized from them," said a customs official on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, an Air India crew member was arrested in Kerala for trying to smuggle gold under his uniform. The cabin crew member had wrapped 1.4 kg gold around his forearms.
Meanwhile, government data released a few days ago showed that smuggled gold seizure increased nearly 47 per cent year-on-year in 2022, with Kerala accounting for the maximum quantity of confiscation of the yellow metal.
Various wings of the government seized 2,383.38 kg of gold in 2021 and 2,154.58 kg in the preceding year.
In the first two months of 2023, as much as 916.37 kg of smuggled gold was seized.
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