Bengaluru: Gold smuggled in the form of pasta and stick worth 61 lakh found under the passenger seat of Indigo flight landed at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) from Dubai.
Customs Sleuth is investigating whether gold has been abandoned or left there to gather other gang members.
The source with the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) Bangalore Customs said the discovery was made on Saturday when investigators examined Indigo Dubai-Bengaluru (6E96) flights after a tip-off that a large number of gold was smuggled.
“The officer boarded a flight immediately after all the passengers had fallen and found the package under one of the seats in the economy class.
Cut the packet that revealed 29 pieces of gold and gold paste,” said an inquiry officer.
A thorough examination reveals gold stick weighs 599gm and 701GM gold pasta.
The seizure is estimated to be worth 61 lakh at the market.
Customs sleuths are vetting passengers to find instructions for smuggling and try to find out whether smugglers on flights develop cold feet and leave gold or deliberately leave them under the chair to gather other people, the source added.
Gold in a dishwasher, scrubbussa 34-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh was arrested in Kia when he smuggled the pieces of gold by hiding it in the scrubber plate and face cream.
Sleuth Customs intercepted the man after he landed in the city of Dubai on Emirates flight (EK 564) on Sunday.
Following passenger profiles, the leaflets were escorted to go and the baggage inspection – his books revealed two gold pieces hidden in scrubber, some in the face cream and the rest were among the clothes.
He also wore Rhodium gold plated to avoid detection.
More than 320GM of the smuggled gold value of more than RS 13 lakh was confiscated from it, the source added.