Image credit : Illustrative Image

An Air Arabia passenger was today taken into custody here today for attempting to smuggle gold concealing it in powder form in medical dressing.

Abdul Kareem from Nilambur in Kerala, had a bandage on both of his legs and was found moving in a suspicious manner when Customs officials nabbed him at the international airport around 4:30 am.

It was found that he had taken gold in powder form, mixed it with some semi-solid chemical paste and used it as medical dressing on his legs. The seized material is said to be worth Rs 26.34 lakh.

He admitted powdering around 700 gm (six gold bars of 10 tola each) and mixing it with some chemical. Customs officials are in the process of extracting the gold with the help of a goldsmith.

He claims that he was not a carrier for anyone and the he had proposed to sell it in the local market for a good margin, officials said.