An Air India passenger has been arrested in Delhi for smuggling $125,000 worth of gold concealed in his rectum, with his choice of airline food giving him away.

We’ve seen some pretty outrageous in-flight incidents in our time — take the Chinese ‘time traveller’ who got his flight cancelled to the flight attendant who was beaten with an in-flight phone as prime examples — but just when you think you’ve seen it all… someone comes along and goes one weirder.

This week, a passenger aboard an Air India flight was apprehended at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport for attempting to smuggle gold worth ₹69 lakh (c. $125,000AUD) by hiding it up his bum. The smuggling attempt was discovered after the man’s suspicious and repeated refusal to consume any refreshments during the five-and-a-half-hour journey from Jeddah to Delhi.

What Happened

During flight AI 992, the unnamed passenger’s peculiar behaviour drew the attention of cabin crew. But what was that weird behaviour, exactly? Despite repeated offers, he declined to drink water and refused all food and beverages offered to him by the team. The flight attendant, finding the man’s refusals somewhat suspicious, reported his behaviour to the captain.

Recognising that this kind of behaviour could represent a potential threat, the captain alerted security agencies through Air Traffic Control, prompting a very alert set of security guards to scrutinise the man upon the flight’s arrival in Delhi.

An Uncomfortable Discovery

On landing, security personnel closely monitored the suspect as he attempted to cooly pass through the Green Customs Clearance Channel. When questioned, however, the man folded fast and immediately confessed to concealing gold in his rectum. Further examination — we daren’t think of how that proceeded — revealed four oval capsules containing a gold paste, weighing over a kilogram in total… that’s quite the payload.

Joint Commissioner for Customs Monika Yadav confirmed the recovery of the gold and the passenger’s arrest under relevant sections of the Customs Act. Naturally, the incident sparked an investigation into the story behind the smuggling attempt and also prompted further exploration into the increasingly creative methods smugglers use to evade detection.

Heightened Vigilance

This all-round pretty unpleasant case has led to a heap of new directives for cabin crews to pay closer attention to passengers who refuse food and drinks on long-haul flights. Especially since this isn’t an isolated incident. Earlier this year, a souvenir shop at Chennai Airport was exposed as a front for a Sri Lankan gold smuggling syndicate. Mohammed Sabir Ali, the shop owner and a YouTuber, was recruited by the syndicate and helped smuggle 267 kg of gold worth roughly $22 million AUD over the course of two months.

Both these incidents make plain the ongoing and increasingly complex challenges faced by customs and security agencies in curbing smuggling. The creative concealment methods in combination with the high value of the contraband necessitate constant vigilance which, clearly, the Air India cabin crew are pretty darned expert at…