MANGALURU: Officers of Customs Air Intelligence Unit on Monday seized 1,096 grams of gold worth Rs 33.56 lakhs at Mangaluru International Airport.

It was told that the passenger arrived by an Air India Flight No IX 814 from Dubai on Monday.

In a release, M Subramanyam, commissioner of customs said that the passenger had ingeniously concealed the gold in the form of assorted silver colour paint coated objects of various shapes and sizes, viz., beads in chain and bracelets, circular objects in door handle locks, buckles of chappals, sheet in talcum powder tin, circular sheets in face cream tins, key chain rings, strips in measuring tapes, buttons on woollen jackets, adaptable screw driver head bits and watch strip-holders which were, in turn, placed in a carton box. These objects included chain and bracelets beads, buckles of chappals, key chain rings, woolen jacket buttons and others.

The accused was later presented before N Sunil Kumar Singh, principal civil judge (senior division) and chief judicial magistrate, Mangaluru, who remanded him to judicial custody.

Subramanyam said it was an usual approach by smugglers to devise a new mode of concealment as officers detect older means of smuggling with ease.