Gobran Mohamed

CAIRO: Customs officers at Cairo International Airport have thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of bullion and gold jewelry, which an Egyptian passenger had hidden upon arrival from Saudi Arabia.

They also intercepted an attempt to smuggle a number of telemetry devices, which were hidden by another passenger arriving from the Kingdom.

Customs authorities said that when the Egyptian passenger’s luggage was scanned through an X-ray machine, officials discovered 10 gold bars weighing 100 grams each, as well as two sets of gold jewelry, weighing a total of 167 grams.

Customs added that the passenger hid the seized items in his luggage upon his arrival from Saudi Arabia. The passenger intended to mislead customs officers, transit the gold and sell it to achieve material gains.

A customs seizure report was drawn up against the passenger, with authorities taking legal measures.

In a separate case, an Egyptian passenger’s luggage was passed through an X-ray device. It was found that there were identical and repeated objects inside the suitcase, and further inspection revealed the presence of 17 expensive remote measurement devices.

Cairo International Airport customs said that the telemetry devices were deliberately hidden by the Egyptian passenger to mislead customs officials, transit and sell the goods, to achieve material gains.

The director general of Passenger Customs at Terminal 1 at Cairo International Airport decided to take legal measures and issue a customs seizure report against the passenger.

According to Cairo International Airport customs, these measures are in implementation of the instructions of Shahat Al-Ghatouri, head of the Customs Authority, to tighten control over customs outlets and thwart smuggling attempts.