Ahmedabad, Oct 19 — Customs officials seized 133.450 grams of 24-carat gold worth Rs 20.12 lakh from a passenger arriving from Dubai at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA) in Ahmedabad on Monday, after detecting gold paste concealed inside a cabin baggage trolley bag.
According to Ahmedabad Customs, officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) intercepted the 29-year-old passenger on October 19 based on passenger profiling. The passenger is from Tanda in Uttar Pradesh.
During a detailed examination of his trolley bag, which was being carried as cabin baggage, officials noticed a suspicious patch affixed to the inside of the bag.
Further examination revealed that gold paste had been concealed as a layer on a cloth patch fixed inside the trolley bag.
The officials extracted and melted the paste, recovering 133.450 grams of 24-carat gold with a market value of Rs 20,12,426. The recovered gold was seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
Further investigation is under way to establish the circumstances of the attempted smuggling and determine whether others were involved.
The seizure highlights the concealment methods encountered by customs officials at airports, where gold is sometimes carried in paste form or hidden in baggage and personal belongings to avoid detection during routine checks.
Similar seizures have been reported at Ahmedabad airport in recent months. In July, Customs officials seized 129.18 grams of 24-carat gold paste worth Rs 19.48 lakh from two passengers arriving from Dubai, after finding it concealed inside their shirt collars.
In February, another Dubai-arriving passenger was intercepted with 601.9 grams of 24-carat gold worth over Rs 96 lakh, concealed in paste form inside his underwear.
In June, officials also recovered 2,799.3 grams of gold biscuits valued at around Rs 4.27 crore from a speaker box in an aircraft lavatory.