Bengaluru: Customs officials at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) Sunday apprehended a Singapore-based Indian chef attempting to smuggle 32 gold biscuits concealed in his jacket.The passenger, 30-year-old Alagu Sundaram, a native of Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, was examined after officials raised suspicion. He was accompanied by Maideen Masafar Sammati, 53, a native of Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu. No gold was recovered from him.Sundaram reached KIA’s Terminal 2 at 8.30am on IndiGo flight 6E 1248, which had taken off from Singapore’s Changi Airport at 6.28am. During interrogation, he is said to have confessed that the gold belonged to another individual based in Singapore and he was just carrying it to India.It is learnt that he works as a chef at Al Kasim Indian Muslim Food. Maideen is believed to be the proprietor of the restaurant, located in Bukit Batok Street, and he claims to own seven more restaurants in Singapore. Both men have been living there for a long time.“Sundaram confessed that he works as a chef in Maideen’s restaurant but we haven’t been able to verify it independently. The modus operandi was smart as the bars were concealed in the jacket. There was no prior intelligence; we got suspicious on the spot,” a senior customs officer told TOI.The officer added that in normal circumstances, only handbags would be looked at by customs, but a profiling-based suspicion made them check the jacket as well. Each biscuit seized weighed 100 grams, with the total seizure reading at 3.2kg. Based on the current gold rate, the biscuits are valued at around Rs 4.8 crore, the officer said, making the seizure among the most valuable in recent times. Sleuths are yet to ascertain how Sundaram evaded security in Singapore.Both passengers are in custody and are expected to be booked under the Customs Act, 1962, following formalities.
