Man apprehended with gold hidden in bottle cap at airport

Customs officials at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport have seized 170 g of gold concealed inside the plastic cap of a beverage bottle. The passenger, who had arrived from Dubai, was intercepted based on profiling by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) late on Saturday night.

Officials said the passenger, an Indian national travelling from Dubai to Delhi on October 25, was discreetly followed from the flight gate and stopped at the exit of the green channel. During the examination, officers discovered that the plastic cap of a PET bottle the passenger was carrying had been tampered with to hide a cylindrical piece of gold.

The gold piece had been crafted to precisely fit inside the bottle cap, making it difficult to detect during routine screening. Customs officers said the concealment method reflected a new approach being adopted by smugglers in response to the rising prices of gold.