TIRUCHY: Officials of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) at Trichy International Airport in Tamil Nadu foiled a smuggling bid and seized gold coins weighing 1199 grams worth Rs 75.71 kilograms, officials said on Monday. The gold coins were concealed in the inner layer of cardboard boxes brought as checked-in luggage by the three passengers, they said.

"Air Intelligence Unit officers at Tiruchirappalli International Airport have seized 30 number of 24k gold coins weighing 1199 grams and valued at approximately Rs 75.71 lakhs smuggled by three passengers," officials said.

On January 10, 1025.12 grams of 24K purity worth Rs 64.51 lakh were seized from a passenger arriving from Kuala Lampur, as per officials. In December, the AIU at Trichy Airport confiscated 432 grams of 24k gold, valued at Rs 27.41 lakh, from a passenger arriving from Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), as per officials.

On October 17, the AIU seized a gold bar with a purity of 24 karats from a passenger arriving from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), officials said. The gold bar was extracted from gold paste kept in capsules concealed in the rectum by the passenger. The seized gold, weighing 717 grams, was priced at Rs 42.91 lakh, a Customs Department official had said.

Earlier in the same month, the AIU at the Trichy airport seized gold worth Rs 1,08,10,800 extracted from paste-like materials concealed in shoes and underwear worn by the children of a male passenger. The passenger had arrived from Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur.