Rs. 4.09 crore gold and foreign currency seized

Customs officials seized gold and foreign currency worth Rs. 4.09 crore at Chennai International Airport, arresting four persons, including a young man and a woman, in separate smuggling cases.
The seizure was made during checks of passengers who arrived from Dubai early on Tuesday.
During inspection, customs officers grew suspicious of a 28-year-old man from Chennai who had travelled to Dubai on a tourist visa.
He was taken to a private examination room, where officers found 940 grams of gold concealed inside his undergarments. The gold, valued at Rs. 1.36 crore, was seized, and the man was arrested. Subsequent questioning revealed that he was acting as a carrier for a gold smuggling racket.
Based on information provided by him, customs officials apprehended two more persons who were waiting outside the airport to receive the smuggled gold.
They were also taken into custody for further investigation.
In another incident, customs officials seized foreign currency worth Rs. 2.73 crore in Indian rupee value from a 30-year-old woman from Chennai.
She had arrived from Dubai the previous night. On examination, US dollars and Euro notes were recovered from her possession.
The woman was arrested, and interrogation revealed that she too was involved in organised smuggling activities, officials said.
With these seizures, customs authorities reiterated that intensified surveillance and profiling of international passengers were being carried out to curb gold and currency smuggling through the Chennai airport.
Further investigations are under way to identify links to larger smuggling networks.