Three nabbed with gold biscuits worth Rs.10m [September 24 2014]

An arriving passenger, a sales assistant at the duty free shop and a broker were arrested by the Customs officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport last night for trying to smuggle gold biscuits worth Rs.10 million into the country.

Customs Spokesman Director Leslie Gamini said the Customs officials on information received by the Airport and Aviation Security searched a sales assistant of a duty free shop at the airport.

The officials found two parcels each containing 10 biscuits of gold carefully wrapped around the sales assistants thigh in a thigh guard.

It was learnt that two local passengers returning from Dubai on the same night had handed him over the two parcels of gold to be carried out of the airport without being noticed by the Customs officials.

With the description sought by the sales assistant the Customs officials arrested one of the passengers and also another man who had acted as a broker. The broker had reportedly come to receive the gold from the sales assistant to be delivered to an unknown man in Kotahena. The second passenger is still at large.

Customs officials investigating into the case suspect the attempt was part of a major gold smuggling syndicate. Customs Superintendent Tissa Priyantha de Silva is conducting investigations with his team Assistant Superintendents Ruwan Ratnayake, Manjula Prasad and Indika Pushpakumara.