The four Sudanese passengers smuggling gold arrived on a Dubai-Hyderabad Air India flight.
Customs at Hyderabad airport recovered and seized several kilograms of gold from four Sudanese passengers travelling from Dubai who had concealed the contraband in their rectums, said customs officials today.
Arriving on a Dubai-Hyderabad Air India flight, the two male and two female passengers had attempted to smuggle 7.3 kilograms of gold -- valued at approximately Rs 3.6 crores -- into the country, when they were intercepted by customs at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, said authorities.
It is now in customs custody, and further investigation is currently underway.
This same Dubai-Hyderabad route saw a seizure of smuggled gold just a few months ago, when over six kilograms of gold paste concealed in a rechargeable lantern was recovered at Hyderabad airport in October this year.
Similarly, earlier in October, Hyderabad customs officials seized over 1,200 grams of gold in the form of paste from a female Sudanese passenger who had hidden the contraband in her undergarments and hand-baggage.
In another incident from July that has striking similarities to the most recent seizure, Chennai customs caught a man travelling from Dubai with approximately 810 grams of gold worth over Rs 40 lakh concealed in his rectum, in the form of four bundles of gold paste.