Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Hyderabad, arrested three passengers from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) with 1235.44 grams of gold in their possession on Thursday morning.
A press note from the DRI said, "Four elliptical-shaped balls wrapped with a black colour adhesive tape containing gold in paste form were recovered from 3 passengers. The elliptical balls were concealed in rectum by two passengers. Inquiry suggests that all the three had earlier arrived by Air India Flight No AI 50 from Mumbai to Hyderabad on December 4 and smuggled gold in paste form by secreting them in rectum."
Further, it was revealed that the said passengers were entrusted with the job of carrying gold in paste form which was given to them by one person in Mumbai Airport, the press note said.
The press note further said, "The passengers have booked their tickets on fake names and possessed morphed Aadhar cards to hoodwink the authorities. On further examination, the gold in paste form, weighing 1420 grams, turned out to be having a gold content of 1235.44 grams valued at Rs 48,49,062."
"The passengers who belong to Mumbai admitted that the gold was smuggled into the country and they did not have any documents to prove the purchase/import of the said gold. The smuggled gold has been seized under the Customs Act, 1962 and three persons are arrested. Further investigation is in progress," the press note added.
( With inputs from ANI )