Customs officials in southern India on Sunday (May 16) detained a man who was attempting to smuggle gold strapped to his ankles.

Officers stopped the 21-year-old suspect at Chennai International Airport and asked him to roll up his trouser legs where they found bandages full of the precious metal.

The haul weighed 2.07 kilos and was valued at around 120,000 US dollars.

The customs officials seized gold worth Rs 89.17 lakh (USD 1,21,892) in southern India's Tamil Nadu on May 16. The incident took place at the Chennai International Airport.

A video features the passenger, who tried to smuggle the gold in, unwrapping a bandage around his leg. He undoes the tape and uncovers his leg to reveal a small white package attached to it. He places the packet on a chair next to him and then begins to undo the bandage wrapped around his other leg.

Acting on a tip, the officials stopped and interrogated a 21-year-old passenger, identified as Mohammed Ashraf, flying in from Dubai on Emirates flight EK-544. Upon frisking, the smuggler yielded two packets containing gold wrapped and taped around both his legs.

The packets yielded gold paste weighing 2.07 kg (4.5 lbs) which on extraction recovered 1.8 kg (3.9 lbs) of 24k purity gold worth Rs 89.17 lakh (USD 1,21,892). Moreover, on further questioning, the passenger revealed that he was to hand out the gold to an individual, identified as Mohamed Ibrahim, outside the airport. Following this, the officials swung into action and arrested both the persons involved in the case.