3 weeks ago
Man arrested at Ahmedabad airport with gold concealed in body
Some people try to bring gold into India without paying the required taxes, and that is called smuggling.
At an airport in the city of Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, customs officers stopped a 24-year-old man from the town of Godhra.
He had flown in from Jeddah, through Doha, on a plane.
The officers thought he might be hiding something, so they checked him closely.
They found a soft golden paste, made from gold, hidden inside his body.
The paste weighed about 467 grams.
The officers turned it into a shiny 24-carat gold bar weighing about 423 grams, worth about 65 lakh rupees, which is a very large amount of money.
The man, named Sarfaraz Mala, was arrested because hiding gold in your body to sneak it into the country is against the law.
This is not the first time it has happened at this airport, as two other people were caught earlier this year using similar secret hiding methods.
The police are still investigating to find out more.
Ahmedabad Customs seized a 24-carat gold bar weighing 422.83 grams, valued at Rs 65.69 lakh, at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on August 9.
The passenger, identified as Sarfaraz Mala (24) from Godhra, Gujarat, was intercepted by the Air Intelligence Unit after arriving from Jeddah via Doha on Qatar Airways flight QR-534.
Officials found 467.09 grams of gold paste concealed inside his body, which one report specifies was inside his rectum.
The gold was seized and the passenger arrested under the Customs Act, 1962, while further investigation is underway.
Two similar body-concealment cases were reported earlier at the airport: a woman from Dubai on July 29 (244.16 grams, Rs 35.84 lakh) and a woman from Kuala Lumpur in March (553.07 grams, Rs 83.29 lakh).
- Who
- Sarfaraz Mala (24), a man from Godhra in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, arrested by Ahmedabad Customs' Air Intelligence Unit.
- What
- Found with 467.09 grams of gold paste concealed inside his body, which was processed into a 422.83-gram 24-carat gold bar valued at Rs 65,69,087; the gold was seized and he was arrested.
- Where
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad.
- When
- Sunday, August 9, upon arrival from Jeddah via Doha.
- Why
- Suspected gold smuggling in violation of the Customs Act, 1962.
Key facts
- Gold bar recovered
- 422.83 grams, 24-carat purity
- Gold paste found on passenger
- 467.09 grams
- Market value
- Rs 65,69,087 (Rs 65.69 lakh)
- Passenger
- Sarfaraz Mala, 24, from Godhra, Gujarat
- Flight
- Qatar Airways QR-534, Jeddah via Doha
- Date of interception
- Sunday, August 9
- Legal action
- Arrest and seizure under Customs Act, 1962
- Earlier related cases
- July 29: 244.16g from Dubai (Rs 35.84 lakh); March: 553.07g from Kuala Lumpur (Rs 83.29 lakh)
Quotes
Official
Customs Air Intelligence Unit official
“The passenger was found to have concealed 467.09 grams of gold paste inside his rectum. The recovered paste was subsequently converted into a gold bar weighing 422.83 grams and valued at Rs 65,69,087.”
deccanchronicle.com










