Hyderabad:
Customs sleuths today seized over 15 kg of gold worth over Rs 4 crore from two women passengers, one of them a crew member of the Emirates airlines, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.
Both were subsequently arrested.
The Emirates crew member was a native of Maharashtra and arrived on the airline's flight from Dubai as an ordinary passenger, off-duty, at 1000 hrs, customs said.
Officers of Customs Air Intelligence Unit on search, found that she had concealed gold bars weighing 13 kg, worth Rs 3.76 crore, in her dress, a senior official said.
Her name was not revealed. "In the interrogation the passenger admitted her offence and revealed that to avoid payment of customs duty on gold, she had smuggled it by deftly concealing it in her dress," the official said.
Earlier, passenger Patima Shaheen, who arrived at 0330 hrs by Qatar Airways flight, was arrested after the search of her luggage revealed 2.7 kg of gold bars worth Rs 78.30 lakh.
Meanwhile, Emirates Airline said in a statement that "on April 9 an incident occurred wherein a passenger arriving on flight EK526 from Dubai to Hyderabad was detained by Customs for carrying an undeclared quantity of gold in baggage. Emirates has extended its cooperation to the Customs authorities investigating the matter."