Coimbatore : DRI officials arrested a Sudan national and seized gold bars worth nearly Rs 25 lakh from him at the city airport. He flew down from Sharjah by an Air Arabia flight.

The officials gathered intelligence that Hafez Ahmed Ishag Musa (38) from Sudan was trying to smuggle gold concealed in the space for batteries in two mobile phones.

They intercepted him on November 3 and recovered foreign origin gold of five tola bars in the form of a belt buckles, a DRI statement said on Monday.

His wife Safia Dandarawi Mohamed Abbas was accompanying him, it said. The gold bars of 24 carat purity weighed 761 gm is valued at Rs 24,96,736.

The cover cargo of the two mobile phones and the leather belt were also seized. The passenger has been granted bail.