Mumbai Crime: Flyer hid gold bars in soles, held by customs

Representational pic

Customs officials at Mumbai airport seized 12 gold bars worth Rs 36.45 lakh from an architectural supervisor. The gold weighed 100gm each. The accused had arrived from Singapore on Monday night.

According to a report in The Times of India, Thiruppathy Palaniyandy had stuck the gold bars to his soles. He did so with the aid of adhesive tapes, and then wore thick socks in an endeavour to try them to avoid detection.

The report added that Palaniyandy earns a monthly salary of Rs 1.5 lakh, and that he turned to the crime for extra bucks. Palaniyandy was booked for smuggling and later released on bail.

The report also revealed that, last week, a Customs official had noticed Palaniyandy moving around ‘suspiciously'. He again saw him at the airport on Monday, and decided to search his baggage. He was asked to walk through the metal detector, which went off. On being frisked, Customs found six gold bars stuck to each of his soles.