Customs officials at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPI), Ahmedabad, have seized 24 gold biscuits weighing nearly 2.8kg (6.2 lbs) after an inspection of an IndiGo flight arriving from Dubai, authorities said.
According to officials, the search was conducted on IndiGo Flight No. 6E-1478, which landed from Dubai on June 12, 2026. During the inspection, Customs personnel, assisted by aircraft engineers, discovered two pouches, wrapped in black plastic tape.
The smuggled goods were concealed inside a speaker unit in the aircraft’s front lavatory. The tightly-wrapped hidden packet contained 24 foreign-origin gold biscuits of 999.0 purity (24 carat), with a total weight of 2,799.3 grams. The estimated market value of the seized gold was pegged at Rs4.26 crore ($447K).
Officials said The manner of concealment indicates that the gold was concealed by an unknown person with the intention of smuggling it into India in violation of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. As no person came forward to claim the legal ownership of the seized gold, it was seized as unclaimed under the relevant provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
Visuals shared by ANI from the airport show officials carefully retrieving tightly packed gold bars concealed within the aircraft’s speaker system, highlighting the increasingly sophisticated methods being used in smuggling attempts.
The seizure comes amid continued vigilance by Customs authorities at Indian airports, as the country has witnessed persistent pressure from rising gold inflows. India remains one of the world’s largest consumers of gold, with imports often fluctuating in response to price movements, festive demand, and investment appetite. Experts note that high global prices have not significantly dampened demand, resulting in sustained import volumes and, in some cases, an uptick in attempts to circumvent customs regulations through concealment and informal channels.
