Manama: Customs officers at King Khalid airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh have foiled two attempts to smuggle in four kilos of gold.
“In the first case, the officers found 2kg of gold concealed by a passenger in his underwear,” Sultan Al Fuhaid, the general director of customs at the airport, said. “He used adhesive tape to fix the products.”
In the second case, another 2kg of gold was found with a passenger flying into the kingdom.
“He too hid the products under his clothes, but he was discovered and legal measures have been taken.”
Al Fuhaid said that the two smugglers wanted to avoid paying customs taxes, Saudi news site Sabq reported on Monday.
“Article 16 of the anti-money-laundering law clearly stipulates that any traveller leaving or arriving in the kingdom must declare the cash or the precious items, including gold and jewellery, he is carrying if they have a value of more than 60,000 Saudi riyals. There is a special form to be filled in, and any failure to comply with the rules makes the traveller liable for legal accountability.”
Earlier this month, customs officers at King Fahd airport in the Eastern Province city of Dammam foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 3.5kg of gold.
They had suspicions about a passenger and conducted a body search, discovering gold items weighing 3.599kg hidden in his underwear and socks.
“The smuggler was trying to avoid to pay the customs fees on the gold items,” Yousuf Al Zakan, the director-general of the customs, said. “The anti-money-laundering law is very clear about the cash and expensive items that passengers could carry them as they leave or come into Saudi Arabia.”
According to Saudi reports, the major smuggling issue in the kingdom is related to drugs and attempts to get heroin, hashish, amphetamine, cocaine and pills into the country across land borders and airports.
Customs officers also reported attempts to smuggle in weapons and explosives.
In some rare cases, smugglers tried to sneak people they hid inside vehicles into the country.
