India customs nab flier from Middle East with $133k of gold smuggled in shoes

Indian customs officials have seized over 2,000 grams of gold worth more than $133,000 from a passenger traveling from the Middle East.

The undeclared gold was found concealed in pouches in the passenger’s shoes, Delhi Customs said in a social media statement. The male passenger, from India, was later arrested.

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“On the basis of spot profiling, (customs officials) arrested one Indian passenger arriving from the Middle East after 2,156 grams of gold in paste form was recovered.”

Customs officials did not specify which country in the Middle East the passenger had been travelling from.

Officials said they regularly catch passengers trying to smuggle gold into the country.

In February, officials seized almost 1,800 grams of gold worth more than $100,000 from an Indian passenger traveling from Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh.

The undeclared gold was found concealed in his underwear,

In November, Indian customs officials seized almost 7,000 grams of gold worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from three passengers traveling into Delhi from Sharjah.

The undeclared gold concealed as chemical paste and worth about $358,000 was found in seven pouches hidden in handbags.

The gold was found in possession of three passengers who had landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

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