Customs officials arrested a passenger at the Kochi airport who arrived on a flight from Dubai and seized 1259 grams of gold worth Rs 53 lakh that he was trying to smuggle into the country, officers said on Sunday.

The accused was identified as Faizal, a native of the Malappuram district.

“Based on the profiling done by the officers of the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs, a passenger who arrived from Dubai by AI-934 was intercepted. On examination of the passenger, four capsules of gold in a compound form weighing 1259 grams valued at Rs 53 lakh that was concealed inside his body were recovered and seized,” the Customs department said in a statement.

Further investigations are underway to unravel the wider smuggling network.

Cases of gold smuggling are on the rise due to the higher price of the precious metal in India. Gold can easily be bought in large quantities at places like Dubai which leads to smuggling.

Earlier, on Friday, gold weighing 281 grams was recovered by the officials of the Customs department from a passenger who arrived at the Tiruchirappalli airport from Singapore on an Air India flight.

The gold was valued at Rs 15.76 lakh.

Similarly on Monday, the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs department arrested one person from the Chennai airport and seized 792 grams of gold, concealed in two trolly bags.