Press release

Mangaluru, Sep 30: During the month of September, the Customs officers at Mangaluru International Airport detected 18 cases of smuggling of contraband goods and recovered 1133 grams of gold, foreign currency and 236 cartons of foreign cigarettes having no statutory pictorial warning, totally valued over Rs 52 Lacs.

In one major detection, on September 27, the officers recovered about 1.05 Kgs of cylindrical type gold rod valued Rs.32.91 lac which was found concealed in a black coloured hand bag carried by a passenger, who arrived by Air India flight from Dubai. The passenger was arrested and remanded to judicial custody.

In another case three gold biscuits and 25 gold coins valued about Rs.2.52 lac found concealed in the hand bag of a passenger were also seized.

Besides, foreign currency equivalent to Rs 12.74 lac was seized from the possession of three passengers departing to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Thorough profiling of passengers also enabled detection of thirteen cases of smuggling of foreign brand cigarettes having no statutory pictorial warnings and 236 cartons of foreign cigarettes valued about Rs.4.25 lac were confiscated.