Air Customs officials seized gold worth Rs 18.4 lakh (USD 24982) from two passengers at an airport in southern India's Tamil Nadu on December 10. The seizure took place at Chennai International Airport.

Visuals of the seized items show a semi-finished a white packet ingeniously stuck to the inside of the airport trolley basket, covered using a bag. A semi-finished gold chain was seized from the packet. Two gold paste bundles can also be seen laid out recovered from one of the passengers.

Based on a tip-off, officials intercepted Mohammed Rafi aged 23 after he arrived from Dubai. As his baggage was being examined, the passenger picked up his backpack kept in the basket of airport trolley for getting it scanned. An alert customs officer noticed that a small white packet was stuck to the trolley frame with a double-sided tape, which he had cleverly covered by placing his backpack in front.

On opening the plastic packet, a semi-finished gold chain weighing 194 grams (0.42 lbs) valued at Rs 9.8 lakh (USD 13299) was recovered.

In another case, Abdul Kareem aged 35 who arrived from Dubai was intercepted and two gold paste bundles weighing 200 grams (0.3 lbs) were recovered from his rectum. On being extracted, 172 grams of gold valued at Rs 8.6 lakh (USD 11673) was recovered.