New Delhi: Customs officials at Varanasi airport on Saturday seized gold worth Rs 45 lakh from two passengers returning from UAE.
One of the passengers on the Air India flight from Sharjah had melted gold and concealed in a pouch under his wig. "Search led to the recovery of gold brought in brown paste form concealed in pouch kept on shaven part of the head and a wig was worn over it by the passenger," an official said.
Officials said that the pouch contained over 646 grams of gold, valued at Rs. 32.97 lakhs.
Another passenger on the same flight was found to have 238.2 grams of gold, worth Rs 12.14 lakhs. The gold was concealed between layers of plastic used to wrap the carton that the passenger was carrying.