Panaji, Aug 12 (TOI): The air intelligence unit of the commissionerate of customs foiled another attempt to smuggle gold into Goa's Dabolim international airport on Tuesday after its officials seized 800g of gold valued over 18 lakh on the Dubai-Mumbai-Goa flight.

After the gold was seized, domestic and international passengers were allowed to leave the airport. The flight arrived at 6.30am at Dabolim airport. Custom sources said that when the flight landed in Mumbai, domestic passengers were allowed to board the plane. Custom sources said when the domestic passengers boarded the flight, an international passenger handed over two raw gold chains to a domestic passenger.

When the flight landed in Goa, custom officers, during a routine search, intercepted the domestic passenger from Kerala who was about to leave the airport with two gold chains concealed in his pocket.

During the interrogation, the domestic passenger did not reveal the name of the international passenger who handed over the gold to him. When custom officers started the search, they found an international passenger from Kerala.

When he was interrogated, the custom officer found the photo of the domestic passenger on the cellphone of the international passenger.

The custom source said that this is the standard modus operandi of smugglers who try to smuggle gold into Goa. Sources also said that the chain was in a raw form to enable the accused to show that it is old gold jewellery and exit the airport without notice.

Sources said that as the gold amount was less then 20 lakh, the passenger was allowed to go.