Bid to smuggle gold, mobile phones foiled at Peshawar airport

PESHAWAR: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials have foiled a bid to smuggle gold and mobile phones worth millions from Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The officials recovered 10 mobile phones hidden inside the toilet of the international arrival lounge, whereas, they also found gold nuggets inside the mobile phones. Sources told ARY News 20-tola gold was recovered from the mobile phones.

The discovery was made by an airport services’ officer during a routine inspection when he found the mobile phones from the toilet of the lounge. The staffer immediately submitted the mobile phones to the duty terminal officer (DTM) which later summoned the Customs personnel.

Customs’ officers seized the alleged smuggled items and started the search for the passengers, sources added.

Earlier in the month, the Airports Security Force (ASF) personnel had foiled the bid to smuggle narcotics from Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport to a foreign country.

ASF officials had recovered a huge quantity of ice weighing more than two-kilogram hidden in secret portions of a trolley bag of a passenger.

On suspicions, the security officials had decided for a manual search of the bag of the passenger who was going to depart for Bahrain via a foreign airline.