The gold bars were taped under the sink in the toilet.

Officials in New Delhi recently recovered gold worth almost $250,000 from an aircraft parked in New Delhi. Apparently, it was a carefully thought-out smuggling plan involving hiding the precious metal in the plane’s toilet for several flights through the day and then recovering it later.

All major international airports in India regularly deal with instances of gold smuggling. The culprits often find unique ways to smuggle the precious metal, hiding it in places that require quite an imagination sometimes. The latest incident in New Delhi appears to be a case in which the smugglers tried to carry out the plan across several flights of the same aircraft but failed in the end.

Officials in New Delhi have said that they have recovered gold bars weighing 4kg from the lavatory of an aircraft in Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). According to a report by The Times of India (TOI), customs officials searched the toilet of an aircraft once it landed in Delhi following a tip-off. The name of the airline to which the plane belonged was not known. An official was quoted as saying,

“An aircraft, used for international journeys, was rummaged on completion of its subsequent domestic trips at Terminal 2 of IGI. The Officials found a grey pouch affixed with adhesive tape under the sink in the washroom. It contained four rectangular gold bars.”

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The aircraft in question was operating flights across several sectors, both international and domestic. Its flight originated in Dubai, bound for Mumbai, then Hyderabad, Patna, and finally, New Delhi.

According to TOI, the officials couldn’t carry out the search in between flights as the plane’s domestic layovers were quite short. It only stayed in Mumbai for 40 minutes before departing for Hyderabad, where it remained on the ground for 30 minutes for its onward journey to Patna. It was only when the plane made an eight-hour maintenance stop in Delhi that they had the time to search its lavatory properly.

Another gold-related incident occurred on Saturday at Kolkata airport when a passenger returning from Dubai was found hiding gold paste weighing 4.9 kg and worth more than $340,000 inside his underwear, socks, and belt. The passenger had arrived on Emirates flight EK570 and was taken away for frisking after officials became suspicious of his movements at custom clearance.

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Airport officials in India are always more careful in screening passengers arriving on certain flights deemed sensitive. Mumbai often sees such cases and last year reported its biggest gold seizure, recovering more than 60 kg of gold in two separate cases.

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Source: The Times Of India

With a background in publishing and digital media, Gaurav likes to combine his love for aviation with his fondness for storytelling. He's a keen observer of ever-changing aviation trends around the world and particularly in India. Gaurav also keeps a close eye on the fleet development of all major carriers and their subsequent impact on regional and international routes. Based in New Delhi, India.