27 June 2023 06:24 pm Views - 2307
A bizarre yet innovative way to smuggle gold out of the country was thwarted when Customs officers at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) nabbed five Sri Lankans trying to carry over five kilos of gold in a gel form inserted in their rectums.
Officials of the Customs Narcotic Control Unit, on a tipoff, searched five local men at the departure terminal who were bound for Chennai, India on IndiGo Airline SE 1176 around 1.30 pm. According to Customs spokesman Senior Director Sudaththa Silva, the suspects who had been identified as traders from Colombo and its suburbs were detected while trying to leave the country with the gold contraband filled in plastic capsules inserted in their rectums.
Following the due procedures, the Customs officials managed to retrieve 15 such capsules that altogether bore 5,650 grams (5.65Kg) of a gel like solution containing gold.
The contraband was valued at Rs.107 million.
A detective attached to the Customs Narcotic Control Unit told the Daily Mirror the suspects have come up with an innovative method to smuggle gold by mixing it with a solution.
“The crushed gold biscuits had been mixed with a gel like solution so that it is easy to contain in plastic capsules, which could be easier to insert in a sensitive area like the human rectum. Once the items are retrieved after a successful smuggle, the perpetrators will burn the solution to extract gold particles,” he said.
Customs officers found three such capsules with each suspect and three capsules weighed about 1,100 grams (1.1Kg). The suspects have been detained for further investigations. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana)