Bengaluru: Gold smuggling from the Gulf and innovation go hand in hand. Late last week, a Kerala man landed at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) from Dubai carrying two knives filled with gold and seven sheets, among other things, coated with the yellow metal. He was nabbed and gold worth almost Rs 18 lakh was seized from him.
Sources with the Air Intelligence Unit of Bengaluru Customssaid the incident took place early Friday when the passenger, a 28-year-old man from Kasaragod in Kerala, landed on IndiGo flight 6E 1486 from Dubai.
Customs sleuths carried out passenger profiling and intercepted the man, who was acting in a suspicious manner.
Following his frisking, investigators found in his checked luggage two knives with seemingly unusual handles. They broke the knives open to unearth two mercury-coated gold rods concealed in the hollow of the handles. The suspect was also hiding two chain cut pieces with hooks and small rings in his trolley bag.
