Smugglers allegedly concealed gold bars worth 238,000 GBP by tampering with the wiring in a passenger plane's lavatory.

The unidentified suspects stuffed around 4.6kg of gold inside a washroom panel on an IndiGo plane landing at Chennai International Airport from Dubai on February 29.

Airplane cleaners alerted security officials when they found that the washroom's electric box had been tampered with on February 29 while cleaning.

Authorities conducted an inspection and found the treasure hidden in the lavatory's wiring box. The bundle was wrapped in black duct tape and secured with a number code lock.

Customs officials have retrieved the gold, estimated to be worth Rs2.51 crore (around 238,000 GBP).

They believe the suspects may have contracted a ground staffer to extract the gold bars, or that the parcel was destined for Hyderabad where the plane was scheduled to land next.

A customs officer told local media: 'Smugglers resort to extreme methods to evade suspicion of enforcement agencies. The person who carried the gold must have trained well beforehand to hide it in the cabin mid-flight.'

Police said they were reviewing CCTV footage from the flight and the passenger disembarkation area at Chennai International Airport.