Man held for trying to smuggle gold

Kochi: The Customs Air Intelligence Unit of Kochi airport here intercepted a man who attempted to smuggle 20 sovereigns of gold on Wednesday.

The unit detained and later took into custody the passenger, a resident of Ramanadhapuram, Tamil Nadu, who arrived from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia flight.

As per reports, he had swallowed the contraband. An x-ray taken to determine the contents of his stomach revealed the gold, worth around Rs 4.5 lakh, in his rectum.

The customs officials, in the past too, had caught passengers who had used the same method to smuggle gold through the airport.