Smuggled gold weighing 3.14 kg was seized at the international airport in Hyderabad on Thursday and two people, a passenger and an employee of a COVID-19 testing facility at the airport, were arrested.
Based on information that the gold was being smuggled out of the airport, the Officers of Air Intelligence Unit, Hyderabad Customs, identified and intercepted a passenger who arrived from Dubai and an employee of an agency which provides the services for testing COVID-19 samples.
During interception, it was found that a polythene cover containing two pouches of hard metal and four packets of paste suspected to be gold was kept in the dustbin placed inside the cabin of the COVID-19 testing centre, a release from Customs said.
The employee, during interrogation, admitted that those pouches were handed over to him by the passenger during sample collection for COVID-19 test.
He further said that he was supposed to sneak out the pouches discreetly through Customs area for which he was offered a handsome consideration.
After conducting the standard tests, the material was certified to be gold weighing 3.14 kg and valued at approximately Rs 1.65 crore.
Further investigation is on, the release said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Two Restaurants In Hyderabad's Attapur Area Raided - See What Was Found IPL 2025 Mega Auction Expected To Be Held In Riyadh, Likely Dates To Be... Boy, 2, Attacked By Dogs While Playing Outside Home In Hyderabad Spoke Of Reunification Under India: Sources On Lalduhoma's Viral Old Speech "Cowardly Attempts To Intimidate Diplomats": PM's 1st Comments On Canada Row Iran Woman Who Stripped At University Not Seen Since. What We Know Abortion Rights Issue Influencing Indian American Women's Voting Preference Israel Says Hit Hezbollah Intel Headquarters In Syria Strike 7 Insurgents Arrested In Manipur, Large Quantity Of Weapons Recovered Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.