Gold stashed in 'mixer grinder' seized at Bhubaneswar airport

Bhubaneswar: It seems that smugglers are trying all possible means to traffic gold through Bhubaneswar International airport and devising new strategies to evade the customs officials.

However, such attempts have so far failed as the officials of Customs department again on Monday seized 700 grams of gold that was being smuggled inside a mixer grinder.

Official sources said the cost of the seized gold is around Rs 22 lakh.

As per reports, the gold was recovered from the mixer grinder that was being carried by a passenger who arrived at the airport from Dubai today.

The passenger has been detained and is being interrogated by the officials.

Earlier, the Customs department officials had seized 180 gm gold worth Rs 5.66 lakh from a person at Biju Patnaik International Airport on April 1.

On March 28, three gold bars and 143 gold rings worth over Rs 12 lakh was seized from two passengers hailing from Maharashtra.

Official sources said that there has been a spurt in gold smuggling attempts via Bhubaneswar airport. Gold and other valuables worth over Rs 1 crore have been seized by customs officials in the past few months.