8 gold bars kept in man’s body seized in Kovai

Sicob (34) of Malappuram and Abdul Sheriff (31) of Kasargod in Kerala arrived from Sharjah by an Air Arabia flight at 4.30 am.  After putting them through the scanner at the arrival terminal, Customs officials found suspicious substance in the body of Sicob.  He was taken to a private hospital where a scan revealed that he had some metal in the rectum.  On retrieving it, officials found that he had 932 grams of gold in eight bars. The smuggled gold was valued at more than Rs 26 lakh and inquires were under way to track the network. Meanwhile, Customs also seized imported cigarettes worth Rs 70,000 from Abdul Sheriff. The cigarettes were destroyed in an incinerator of a private hospital and a penalty of Rs 1.3 lakh was imposed on him.