NEW DELHI: Gold worth Rs 29 lakh, concealed as metal buttons of apparel, has been seized from the possession of an Indian male passenger at the international airport here, the customs department said on Tuesday. The accused was intercepted after his arrival from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Monday.

“Through spot profiling techniques, customs officers flagged the passenger at the Green Channel exit. Upon X-ray scanning of the baggage, suspicious images were noticed.

“While the passenger cleared the DFMD (door frame metal detector) without triggering any alarms, a detailed manual inspection of the baggage revealed 201 silver-coated rings appearing to be made of gold, ingeniously concealed as metal buttons of apparel,” the customs department said in a post on X. The concealed metal rings, confirmed to be 24 carat gold, weighed a total of 379 grams valued about Rs 29 lakh, it said.

 Gold Buttons in Ladies Dresses – Smuggling Attempt Foiled at IGI Airport! 

Customs officers at IGI Airport, New Delhi intercepted an Indian national male passenger attempting to smuggle concealed gold on 6th January 2025.

 Flight Details: Traveling from Jeddah to New… pic.twitter.com/qlVjM7Ocrd
— Delhi Customs (Airport & General) (@AirportGenCus) January 7, 2025

In another case, a male passenger was intercepted after his arrival from Jeddah. “The passenger underwent screening through a DFMD, which did not detect any metallic items on the person (no beep was heard). However, during an X-ray examination of the baggage, suspicious images were noticed,” the customs said in another post.

Upon detailed manual examination of the passenger’s baggage, it was found that eight cylindrical pieces of yellow metal, suspected to be gold, were concealed inside an electric iron, it said. The total weight of the recovered metal was 600 grams valued at Rs 46.80 lakh approximately, the customs said.