Panaji:
Three Tamil Nadu residents were today detained at the Goa international airport in Panaji for trying to smuggle gold bars worth Rs 87 lakh into the country.
About 28 gold bars of 100 gram each were seized from the accused--Rukman Ameedu, Hyder Ali and Sayyed Mohammad - who were carrying it in a fruit juice pack, Customs and Central Excise department officials said.
The air intelligence wing of the department conducted the searches.
The trio, which had arrived on Air India flight from Dubai were detained after they were found with the smuggled gold.
Officials said initially the detention was done after Ameedu was found suspiciously roaming around with the pack of fruit juice in his hand. The search uncovered gold.
During the initial interrogation, Ameedu confessed to carrying 2.8 kilogram of gold along with two other persons.
The second detention was done immediately, wherein gold hidden by Hyder Ali was confiscated. Third accused Sayyed Mohammad, who was also carrying gold, was detained further for interrogation.