Colombo, Sep 11 (IANS): Customs officials have arrested an Indian man while he was trying to smuggle gold slabs here by hiding them in his rectal cavity, media reported.
"Three gold slabs valued at 1.5 million Sri Lankan Rupees ($10,790) were recovered on Thursday following a body search of a 21-year-old Indian man," Sri Lanka-based Daily News newspaper quoted customs spokesperson Lesley Gamini as saying on Friday.
The officers at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport said that the arrested man arrived on a flight from Chennai.
According to customs sources, the incident was exactly the opposite of the general trend in which mostly gold is smuggled from Sri Lanka to India.
Recently, the customs department has caught many people who tried to smuggle gold to India.
The trend is seen due to the steep increase in gold prices due to taxes and government-imposed regulations, the report said.