Mangaluru: Officers of customs at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) had arrested two passengers who attempted to smuggle gold into the country on Sunday.

Based on continuous profiling of suspected carriers, the customs officials zeroed in on two passengers arriving from the Middle East and seized approximately 1,204 grams of gold valued at Rs 35.45 lakh, sources in the department privy to these seizure operations.

While one passenger had hidden 804 grams of gold concealed in the sole of his sandals valued at Rs 23.67 lakh on Sunday, the other accused concealed around 400 grams of gold under his feet. Alert customs officials who found the behaviour of these passengers suspicious, hailed them aside and discovered their ingenious methods to smuggle in gold. Sources in the department said both the accused were frequent travellers and hence on the department’s watch list.

The accused had concealed gold in the sandals in a powder form. “Such form of concealment are usually the trickiest to detect,” the officer said, hailing the presence of mind shown by the officer at the customs counter at the airport. One accused was remanded to judicial custody and the legal proceedings are initiated against the other after seizing the gold.