Ahmedabad: Four women were apprehended by a team from the custom department’s Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) on Sunday for trying to sneak in about 945.5g of 24 carat gold jewellery into the country. The jewellery was plated with rhodium to conceal the yellow metal, and had a market price of Rs 1.52 crore, officials said.“Based on suspicious baggage scanning images, AIU officers conducted a thorough examination of a group of passengers arriving from Jeddah to Ahmedabad. During the examination, four female passengers were found to have concealed seven gold chains (rhodium-coated) and seven gold bangles, totalling 945.57g, of 24 Kt purity,” a customs department’s release about the seizure stated. Officials said that the plating could have been done to evade scrutiny. Investigators said that the gold has been allegedly given to the women by a travel agent, who too was accompanying them. The gold has been seized under the Customs Act, 1962, and further probe is on, officials added.“Gold’s market rate and attempts at smuggling it are linked as the number of such incidents in a given period give a fair idea. Organized smuggling syndicates get creative with their modus operandi. Several attempts to sneak in gold have been thwarted by the customs department in the past few months at airports in Gujarat,” a senior official said.Man caught with 100g of gold hidden in his mouth Customs officials on Saturday apprehended a man returning to India, with gold concealed in his mouth. In all, officials recovered 108g of gold carrying a market value of Rs 17.93 lakh in the incident.“Based on passenger profiling, AIU officers of Ahmedabad customs intercepted a male passenger arriving from Bangkok to Ahmedabad on Jan 31 by an international carrier,” a release by the customs department stated. “Upon examination, the passenger was found to have concealed capsule-shaped gold bars, weighing 108.07gwrapped in black adhesive tape, in his mouth,” the release added. The gold had been seized. “It is believed that the man taped the gold granules to evade scrutiny, ” sources said.
