Gold seized again at BPIA in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: Gold worth over Rs 5 lakh was seized yet again at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here today. The seizure of gold smuggled from Bangkok was reported for the seventh time in a week.

Acting on spot intelligence, the officers of Air Intelligence unit of Customs seized the gold worth over Rs 5 lakh smuggled through Bhubaneswar airport from a passenger of Indian origin hailing from New Delhi.

During search of his body and personal baggage after the passenger arrived at airport from Bangkok by Air India flight AI-339 here today, the officials found one Punjabi type Kada of foreign origin, concealed under the sleeve of his full-shirt. The gold weighing 180.390 gram is valued at Rs 5,66,785.

The incident was reported just a day after 300 gm gold worth around Rs 9.53 lakh was seized from a person who arrived from Bangkok on March 31 morning.

Earlier, three gold bars and 143 gold rings having a combined weight of 378 grams worth over Rs 12 lakh were recovered from two passengers hailing from Thane, Maharashtra on March 28.

The next day, the Air Intelligence unit of the department seized 15 gold bars weighing 1143.78 grams worth Rs 34,90,816 from two passengers of Indian origin hailing from Punjab. They arrived here from Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia flight AK-31 on March 29.