Two passengers caught smuggling gold concealed in water bottle at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Two Indian passengers arriving from Doha and Jeddah at IGI Airport were caught for allegedly attempting to smuggle gold using a novel concealment method. Customs officials said the water bottles carried by these passengers had been specially modified with fake bottoms that concealed gold.

Customs officials said the two passengers arrived at Terminal 3 on Wednesday. “An ingenious modus operandi was unearthed wherein water bottles had been modified with fake bottoms concealing circular pieces of raw gold coated with silver colour and crafted to fit inside, making detection extremely difficult during routine checks,” said an official.

This led to the seizure of 233.5 grams and 117 grams of gold, respectively. “Though the quantity seized was comparatively small, the case is significant for the new concealment method being detected and exposed by Delhi airport customs,” said officials.

A video shared by customs shows an official slamming a blue-coloured water bottle on the floor, leading to the recovery of a circular bottom, which later turned out to be gold.