Within 12 hours, Cochin Customs caught three airline passengers for attempting to smuggle in gold valued at nearly Rs 1 crore via the Nedumbassery Airport.

Two of the passengers -- Palakkad native Marakkara and Malappuram native Muhammad -- boarded at Abu Dhabi while a third one, Majeed from Aluva arrived from Doha.

The Customs said the three had adopted different techniques to smuggle gold.

Marakkar had used tapes to stick rectangular packets containing gold in paste form on his soles. The Customs said they found his style of walking suspicious. On inspection, they recovered 326 grams of gold estimated at Rs 15 lakh.

The passenger from Doha had concealed four capsules containing 1,113.6 grams inside his rectum. The total value of the gold is estimated at Rs 52 lakh.

The third passenger, who was also intercepted at the green channel, had concealed gold in paste form sandwiched between the layers of his underwear. The gold weighed 823.1 grams and is estimated at Rs 28 lakh.