Gold worth Rs 43.55 lakh concealed in “paste form” in the underwear of a passenger who arrived at Hyderabad on a flight from Sharjah was recovered by the Customs team at the airport. 

The Indian national had put 895.20 gm of gold in paste form into plastic pouches that were then hidden in the undergarment.

A case of smuggling has been registered and further investigation is in progress, the officials said.

Carrying gold in paste form is a relatively new modus operandi adopted by smugglers to dodge metal detectors and X-ray machines installed at various international airports, a senior official explained.

A few days ago, officials at the Kannur airport in Kerala had seized 302 gm of gold worth ₹ 14 lakh. The passenger tried to smuggle gold in paste form by hiding it between layers of the trousers he was wearing.

In July, Chennai customs caught a man who carried about 810 gm of gold worth over ₹ 40 lakh in the form of four bundles of gold paste in his rectum from Dubai.

Since gold in such large quantities is being smuggled in,  the involvement of some prominent jewellers and gold dealers across big cities cannot be ruled out. Officials say efforts are on to identify potential end-users so as to break the nexus between smugglers and jewellers.