Watch Video: Customs seize gold worth Rs 2.7 crore in 8 separate cases at Mumbai International Airport

The Customs officials at the international airport in eight separate cases have totally seized 4.35 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 2.07 crore. In two of the cases gold dust was concealed inside the soles of the sandals and in four other cases it was partial rectum and partial body concealment.

The recovery is significant since the women passengers travelling in large groups concealed the gold under their Burkhas along with rectum and other ingenious concealments. This is one of the biggest seizures of gold at the airport this year, officials said.

According to the Customs officials, based on the profiling and surveillance of passengers, six Sudanese passengers arriving from Sharjah on Monday were intercepted and their detailed examination resulted in the recovery of Gold dust in wax form having collective net weight of 2932 grams.

In two cases Gold dust was concealed inside the soles of the sandals and in four other cases it was partial rectum and partial body concealment. Two other Sudanese passengers arriving from Dubai on Monday were intercepted and their detailed examination resulted in the recovery of melted gold bars and assorted jewellery collectively weighing 345 grams.

"In another case, on Monday, acting on the specific intelligence one passenger who was arriving from Trivandrum to Mumbai at Terminal-1 was intercepted. Personal search of the passenger resulted in the recovery of 1285 grams of gold dust in wax form. The passenger admitted that he had extracted the gold dust from the seat (blocked in advance) of the aircraft. Passenger also admitted that the recovered gold dust was concealed in the aircraft in Sharjah during its Sharjah-Trivandrum leg," said an AIU official.

In a separate case, based on profiling and suspicion two passengers who were departing to Dubai on Sunday were intercepted and a detailed examination of their baggage resulted in the recovery of assorted foreign currency (Pounds, Omani Rials and Saudi Riyals) cleverly concealed in the handbag and trolley bag, equivalent to Rs 22.5 lakh. Both the passengers accepted that they were smuggling the foreign currency as carriers for monetary consideration offered by the handler, officials said.

"Total 5 passengers have been arrested in the said cases, as in some cases the passengers had to undergo medical treatment to get gold removed from their body and in some cases the accused were carrying gold in less quantity which does not amount to arrest," said the official.