Gold bars worth $1M found in airplane bathroom

Smuggling is on the rise into India, one of the world's biggest buyers of gold, after the government raised import duty to a record 10 per cent and slapped restrictions which have shrivelled supplies into the domestic market.

The Jet Airways plane had arrived at Calcutta's international airport from Patna on a domestic flight but normally operates between the gold trading hub of Dubai and Mumbai, home to India's largest gold market. It was undergoing routine cleaning when maintenance staff discovered the two small tins.

"There was a bomb scare immediately when the bags were spotted in two separate toilets at round 1 a.m., but later we found they contained 12 pieces of gold bars in each," Additional Commissioner of Customs at the airport, Rameshwar Meena, told Reuters.

"The gold bars are from Dubai, for sure. The flight had come from Patna to Calcutta last, but its basic route is Dubai-Mumbai."

5 cases found over 2 months

The bars weigh one kilogram and are about the same size as a portable smartphone. Meena said the haul was worth $1.18 million US. Customs officials said they had seized five cases of gold over two months involving a total of 100 kilograms of gold.

Read More: www.cbc.ca/news/world/gold-bars-worth-1m-found-in-airplane-bathroom-1.2433391