The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of customs department on Thursday morning held a man from Sri Lanka for smuggling 1kg of gold worth 2.74 million Indian rupees at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad.

Jaffna-based Mohammed Jaleel Abdul Matheen was held with 10 gold bars which were concealed in his rectum. Interestingly, Matheen was a domestic passenger as he had flown in from Delhi. This is the seventh incident of smuggling wherein a domestic passenger has been caught.

Matheen had arrived from Air India flight AI-019 from Delhi on Thursday morning. “He was a domestic passenger and had picked up the gold bars from an international passenger in Delhi. The exchange of gold bars happened inside the toilet at the international terminal and it was to be delivered in Mumbai,” said a customs official.

This is the 23rd such incident in 2015 of gold smuggling. Since January 2015, around 28.69 kg of gold, worth Rs 7.74 crore has been seized at the airport by customs and DRI and 25 smugglers/carriers have been detained. Last week, Chennai-based Sadruddin Ansari was held by AIU for smuggling 2.99kg gold worth Rs 82.79 lakh at the city airport. He was held with gold wires which were concealed in microwave oven on the basis of a tip-off by DRI. Ansari had arrived from Doha in Qatar Airways flight QR-534.

“The smugglers have devised this new modus operandi, thinking that a domestic passenger is not going to be frisked,” added the official.

Source: TOI