10 passengers hide gold worth ₹1.52 cr in their rectums; held at B'luru airport

BENGALURU: Eight women and two men, part of an international gold smuggling ring, were intercepted by customs sleuths at Kempegowda International Airport last weekend.

They landed from Sri Lanka with gold, weighing over 3kg and worth a whopping Rs 1.5 crore. The gang had planned to hand over the booty to some accomplices in the city.

According to sources in the air intelligence unit of customs, around 150 passengers arrived in Bengaluru on Saturday night on Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL 171 from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport. When they were being checked at the terminal, customs sleuths noticed a group of women acting in a suspicious manner and intercepted them for questioning.

“The flyers were carrying gold in paste form in the rectum. Two male accomplices who flew in the same flight were also nabbed. The 10 passengers were questioned and they admitted to their involvement in gold smuggling from Sri Lanka,” an investigating officer said.

The gold in paste form was retrieved and weighed to establish that the gang was carrying around 3kg of the precious metal. Probe is under way to ascertain the group’s links in Bengaluru.