445 grams gold seized at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) sleuths of the Customs department seized 445 grams of smuggled gold at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad on Thursday night. The gold was concealed inside the battery of a LED lantern. Based on passenger profiling, the AIU sleuths intercepted a passenger who arrived from Dubai at Hyderabad Airport in an Indigo flight.

Police found a LED lamp in the passenger’s luggage. AIU team opened the lamp and found nothing suspicious. However, to be completely sure that nothing was concealed inside the lamp, they opened the battery of



the LED lamp and found eight plates covered in black powder. When the powder was removed, AIU team found eight plates made of gold.

The weight of the seized gold plates is 445 grams and its market value is Rs.14.3 lakh. AIU sleuths said the passenger carrying the lamp was unaware of gold plates concealed inside the lamp. “A gold smuggler handed over the lamp to the passenger at Dubai airport, requesting him to hand it over to another person at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport ,” said a Customs official.