Customs seize gold worth Rs 85 lakh at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: Customs officials seized gold worth Rs 85 lakhs at the Chennai airport and arrested a contract labour on Wednesday.

The CISF who were on duty at the Chennai airport noticed an airport contract labour walking suspiciously towards the exit of the Chennai airport on Wednesday morning. Soon the officer stopped him and on suspicion asked him to remove the shoes. However, he was not ready to remove his shoes and started to argue with the officer. Soon the security officers took him to a room and during the search they found gold concealed inside the shoes. The officers recovered gold weighing about 1.281 grams worth Rs 85 lakh and it was handed over to the Chennai airport customs officials.

The customs officials during the inquiry found that the passenger who arrived from Dubai on an Air India flight had kept the gold hidden inside the toilet of the flight.

The contract labour who took the gold from the toilet was about to hand it over to the passenger outside the airport. The passenger had told the contract labour that he would pay him Rs 5000 after completing the task. The customs officials arrested the staff and are trying to identify the passenger.