Hyderabad: This isn't potty but 1.85kg of smuggled gold-paste!
DRI officials stopped a smuggling bid at Hyderabad airport on Saturday and recovered around 2kg of gold that was being brought in from Colombo. The man carrying the booty came under suspicion as his hand-baggage included two packages, weighing 1.85kg. Upon inspection, the package was found to contain 1.12kg of gold-paste, out of which 1.10kg of pure gold was extracted, valued at Rs. 34.57L.
Gold-paste being brought in from Madurai aboard SpiceJet flight
The suspected man came to Hyderabad from Madurai aboard a SpiceJet flight and was caught at the arrival hall of the airport. He was responsible for transporting the gold to Chennai via Hyderabad, said Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials, adding that the smuggled good might be coming from Dubai, and Colombo was just a clone-stop to avoid investigators.
Man failed to produce documents to prove purchase/import angle: Officials
The man collected the package from the aircraft he was in, which was an international flight connecting Colombo to Hyderabad via Madurai. His associate had left the package in the aircraft during the Colombo-Madurai trip, said officials. Upon questioning, the suspect told that he has bought the gold, but failed to produce any document. The gold has thus been seized under Customs Act 1962.
'This is how gold-paste looks like': Tweeple express shock, disgust
Ignoring the seriousness of the matter, Twitterati were cracking jokes as the gold-paste closely resembled human poop. Tweets like, "Looks like a shit of a baby but having 1.85kg gold!!" and "next time your girl demands gold jewelry, show her how gold-paste looks like", were doing the rounds. Some also expressed astonishment at the smuggling method, while others suggested the force should be rewarded.
