Japanese man caught with 5-kg gold taped to his groin at Mumbai Airport

A Japanese trader, trying to smuggle five gold bars worth 25 million Yen (Rs 1.48 crore) by taping all of them to his groin, was caught on Thursday at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The smuggler, who arrived from Singapore, said Indian buyers had suggested this method to hide the gold and told him that he would earn more for the gold bars in India than in Tokyo.

Also read: Gold biscuits seized from rectum of two passengers

Sagawa Harudie

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had information that Sagawa Harudie, a Japanese passenger arriving in Mumbai at 9.55 pm through an Air India flight on Thursday, would be smuggling large quantities of foreign marked gold into the country.

He was identified outside the arrival hall by his passport. "The passenger did not declare any dutiable item with him. However, we found five bars weighing 1 kg each taped to his groin area," stated a DRI official.

The statement of this passenger was recorded under Section 108 of Customs Act yesterday. Harudie had bought the gold at Singapore Changi Airport for 25 million Yen. "He said that he chatted with Indian buyers on the Internet and they told him that the yellow bar is valued more here than in Tokyo. He further claimed that Indians also told him how to conceal the gold bars to escape the Customs' eyes but he said he wasn't aware that this was an offence under the provision on the Indian Customs Law," added another official.

"Harudie was arrested and produced before the ACMM Esplanade Court and remanded in judicial custody till April 13," said a Customs official.