Woman who concealed gold worth ₹83 lakh in her body arrested at Ahmedabad airport

Customs officials at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport in Ahmedabad have arrested a woman passenger for allegedly attempting to smuggle gold worth over ₹83 lakh into the country by concealing it inside her body.

According to the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs, the passenger, who arrived at Terminal-2 of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on March 30 from Kuala Lumpur on Flight AK 91, was intercepted on the basis of Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) profiling while she was attempting to exit through the Green Channel.

During examination, officers recovered two oval-shaped capsules wrapped in black tape, which had been concealed in her rectum. The capsules were found to contain a paste of gold mixed with liquid chemicals, weighing 643.28 grams (gross), officials said.

Subsequent refining of the seized material yielded 553.07 grams of gold of 999.0 purity (24 carat). The recovered gold, valued at ₹83.29 lakh in the market and with a tariff value of ₹75.58 lakh, was converted into a bar and seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

The passenger tried to smuggle it into India through body concealment, in violation of existing regulations. She has been placed under arrest.

Authorities said further investigation is under way to ascertain the source and intended recipients of the smuggled gold, as well as any possible links to organised smuggling networks.