Officials of the Air Intelligence Unit of Chennai Customs on Saturday seized 24 kg gold, valued at Rs eight crore, and arrested two Korean women who arrived from Hong Kong. A release from the Office of the Commissioner of Customs said based on intelligence that gold was likely to be smuggled by some Korean passengers arriving via Cathay Pacific flight, a special alert and vigil was maintained by the officials to nab them.
AIU officers noticed that two women passengers were walking in a suspicious manner as if they were carrying a heavy load. They were intercepted and questioned by AIU officers whether they were carrying any gold or anything to declare. The duo, identified from their passports as Hanbyoul Jung (26) and Eunyoung Kim (26), hailing from Republic of Korea arrived from Hongkong Via Cathay Pacific flight.
As both the passengers were evasive in their replies, they were taken for personal search along with their baggage. During their personal search the lady officer noticed that both the passengers were wearing mini shorts underneath their skirts and pajamas. On further search, 12 gold bars weighing one kg each were seized from each passenger which were concealed inside the front and back pockets of their mini shorts. Further investigations are under progress.
