Two passengers from Sharjah were held with gold bars and foreign brand cigarettes, valued at about Rs. 27 lakh, in the city airport in the early hours of today.

Based on information, Customs officials kept vigil and held Shihab of Malappuram and Abdul Shareef of Kasargod in Kerala, who alighted from an Air Arabia flight around 4.30 am.

On searching, the officials found Shihab hiding eight gold bars weighing 932 gram in his rectum, while the cigarettes were recovered from Shareef’s luggage, police said.

The value of the gold bars is estimated at Rs. 26.43 lakh and the cigarettes at Rs. 70,000.

Shihab had been arrested on an earlier occasion and released on bail, and is said to be a carrier in a gold smuggling racket, they said.

The confiscated cigarettes can be released on payment of a fine of Rs. 90,000.