Customs officials seized over 1 kg of gold valued at Rs 72.73 lakh at Trichy International airport in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

“The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Trichy seized 1197.5 grams of 24-carat gold worth Rs 72,73,781 from two male and one female passenger. While two passengers arrived from Kuala Lumpur, the third arrived from Dubai via Colombo,” an ANI report cited a Customs official as saying.

While some of the gold was brought in metal form the rest was in paste form concealed in the rectum of the passengers.

This is the second gold seizure at Trichy airport within a week as earlier on May 23 the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department seized 1091 grams of 24-carat gold worth Rs 67 lakh from a male passenger who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur.

Gold smuggling is on the rise in the country as it is easy to buy overseas and available at a much cheaper price which tempts unscrupulous elements to smuggle the precious metal to make a fast buck.

Gold valued at over Rs 42 lakh was also seized at Hyderabad airport on May 26, from a passenger who had arrived on flight from Muscat had concealed it in paste form in his rectum. This is the second gold seizure at the Hyderabad airport in a week, as 1,800 grams of gold worth Rs 1 crore was also seized earlier from three passengers, Customs officials said.