Mumbai: Gold dust in lingerie lands 18 Kenyans in customs net – Times of India

Mumbai: Eighteen Kenyan women have been held by airport customs for smuggling around 4kg of gold worth Rs 1.6 crore. The gold was in the form of bars, wires and dust, concealed in a host of personal belongings, including the linings of footwear and lingerie, masala containers, and coffee cans.
All 18 women arrived from the Kenyan capital Nairobi via Sharjah at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport early on Sunday morning. “Looking at such a large and uniform group, that too from a highly underdeveloped part of the world, suspicions were raised that they could be acting as couriers for gold smugglers,” said a source.
Soon, women customs officials were brought in the picture and a thorough inspection of their luggage, handbags and other personal belongings was done. “At first, nothing emerged as the concealment was clever. But persistence paid off and the hidden gold started emerging,” the source said. “They had mixed gold dust in masala and coffee… in toothpaste too. They had put gold dust in their lingerie. They had gold wire in their footwear linings.”
In the end, 4kg of gold was recovered from the group. The women, after they were booked for smuggling, told officers that they sold gold in India and pocketing the price difference bought garments to sell back home. “It is tragic. Because of dire economic conditions in east Africa, ordinary people are forced into crime, especially smuggling. What do you do when there is raging poverty all around you? We have observed an increasing number of Kenyan nationals getting involved in the smuggling of gold as well as other contraband,” said a veteran customs expert.