Nedumbassery: The Customs at the Cochin International Airport here on Sunday foiled a bid to smuggle gold worth Rs 52 lakh through the green channel. 

The officials seized 1,139 gram of gold from a passenger who arrived from Dubai. The accused is Malappuram native Saifullah, who had tied the gold onto his thighs.

The Customs found something odd about the accused's walking and took him for a physical examination. Saifullah was wearing thobe, the kurta-like traditional attire worn by Arabs.

“On the basis of profiling done by the officers of Cochin Customs AIU batch, a passenger coming from Dubai to Cochin International Airport by flight  6E68 was intercepted at the green channel. During the examination of the said passenger, two brown-coloured rectangular shaped packets suspected to contain gold, tied around each thigh and totally weighing 1,139 grams were recovered. Further investigations are going on,” informed the customs in a release.