A gold mixture worth 70 lakhs was seized from a passenger who was travelling from Jeddah to Kozhikode on Friday at Chochin international airport. The bid to smuggle gold was busted when the plane made an emergency landing at the Cochin International Airport.
The flyer, identified as Samad of Malappuram, was arrested with 1,650 grams of gold mixture.
A SpiceJet flight from Jeddah to Kozhikode on Friday was diverted to the Cochin airport at Nedumbassery after it developed a snag in the hydraulic system.
It made an emergency landing in Nedumbassery and passengers were taken to Kozhikode later at night on another SpiceJet aircraft which had arrived from Dubai.
Before the passengers boarded the flight to Kozhikode, they spent some time waiting for the regular checks. During this interval, Samad took a rest in the airport hall.
Meanwhile, he attempted to remove the gold which was hidden in a towel tied around his waist and shift it to his bag.
An officer of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) deployed to keep a watch on the passengers noticed Samad’s unusual movements and informed Customs officials.
When Customs inspected Samad’s bag, they found two packets of gold mixture. The gold would fetch around Rs 70 lakh, said officials.
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