Gold smugglers have had a record of strategizing creative plans to transport the metal illegally from one place to another to stay safe from officials. However, this time, they got to the peak of creativity as they tried to smuggle gold in an extra linen attached to their pants.
The incident was brought to light on Monday morning at the Kannur airport of Kerala. Officials seized 302 grams of gold that costs around Rs 14 lakhs. The feat was accomplished by the Air Intelligence Unit and Customs department, which managed to find the metal that was hidden in a very unique manner.
While gold is usually smuggled in the form of biscuits, coins and jewellery, Monday witnessed a man carrying it in a paste form in a layer hidden in the pair of pants he was wearing.
News agency ANI shared an image on Twitter showing the pants that were used to smuggle the gold. On the first look, anyone can mistake it for yellow paint as it looks exactly like that. The semi-liquid gold was spread in patches along the length of the pants.
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The Customs Preventive United of Kochi said, “Air Intelligence Unit at Kannur airport has seized 302 grams of gold in the form of a very thin paste, concealed within the double-layered pants worn by a passenger.”
The incident quickly went viral as social media users were shocked at the act tried to be pulled off by the accused. Many people joked about it while others questioned the logic behind the same. One argued that as gold is a metal, it would, either way, be easily detected by the metal detectors erected at the airport.
“Like the whole pant won’t go off when they pass the metal detector. Gold is a metal, passing through any metal detector in any form will make it go off!” the user tweeted.
However, India has a record of witnessing gold smugglers transporting the metal in different ways to avoid getting caught. A similar incident took place in Amritsar recently when a man was found trying to smuggle 1,894 grams of gold. The passenger who had landed from the Sharjah flight had carried the gold in a paste form in his underwear.
Upon investigation, 1,600 grams of gold was extracted from his underwear, which was worth Rs 78 lakhs, as per the Customs’ department. He was arrested soon after.
