Customs seizes1.6 kg gold at Mangalore airport

The Customs Department seized 1.6 kg gold concealed behind a mirror in the toilet of a private aircraft at Mangalore International Airport on Sunday. According to a press release, Customs sleuths carried out a thorough check of the Jet Airways flight soon after it landed at the airport from Dubai at 9 a.m. The sleuths found 1.6 kg of gold valued at Rs. 31.73 lakh that was concealed in two packets behind the mirror of the toilet in the rear-end of the aircraft. The search was launched following a tip-off. The two packets were fixed behind the mirror using insulation tapes. The two packets contained 10 gold bars, said Deputy Commissioner of Customs (Airport) Krishna Kumar Prasad in the release. Customs officials said that investigation was on. Mr. Krishna Kumar Prasad said that this was the second time that the Customs Department had seized more than one kg of gold in the last one week at the airport. It was on September 10 that it arrested two passengers on the charge of smuggling 1.3 kg of gold in the form of gold strips. -The Hindu