Watch: Indian officials arrest six passengers for smuggling 5.5kg gold in their wigs

Customs officials release video showing how men glued packages under their false hair

In 2021, Indian border officials in Chennai seized foreign currency worth $33,000 alongside gold valued at about $344,000. All photos: Chennai Customs

Officials seized foreign currency and gold hidden inside wigs, socks and underwear.

Chennai Air Customs made six arrests in connection with the operation to smuggle gold paste and cash packed tightly into parcels and concealed underneath hairpieces.

Eight passengers have been arrested at an airport in India on suspicion of smuggling gold and foreign currency in their wigs.

Customs officials in Chennai found gold paste and cash tightly packed into parcels and concealed in the wigs of the passengers.

Gold and cash were also hidden in socks, underwear and inside the passengers' bodies.

A video was released on social media on Sunday by the Chennai Customs department.

It showed how the men had glued the packages under their false hair.

The gold was valued at about $344,000 (Dh1.26 million) and $33,000 (Dh121,200) was recovered in cash.

Three men from Chennai aged 39, 26 and 42 were arrested on the same flight operated by a UAE-carrier arriving into India on Saturday.

Police said they were alerted as a result of the men’s “suspicious hairstyles”.

Each had gold concealed either under their wigs or hidden inside their person.

Earlier on the same day two men, aged 24 and 26, were arrested as they tried to exit Chennai International Airport. Both men were from the city.

One had attempted to conceal four packets of gold hidden inside underwear and socks to pass to the other man as he exited the arrivals building.

The arrests came 24-hours after customs police intercepted three men from Chennai aged 22, 33 and 35 arriving in a UAE-flagged aircraft from Dubai and Sharjah.

Each had hidden packages of gold paste underneath wigs.

In a separate case, Chennai authorities stopped four passengers from boarding flights bound for Sharjah, as they were also hiding substantial bundles of cash under fake hair.

On removal of the wigs and clothing, police found 67500 Saudi Riyals, US$4750, Dh6500 and 800,000 Bangladesh Takas, about Dh34,700.

Smugglers are looking for increasingly ingenious methods of hiding contraband from Customs officials, as they attempt to export gold from the Gulf to India.

Shoes, fake bottoms and children's toys are only some of the bizarre hiding places criminals have used to smuggle illegal items on to aircraft in recent years.

Bizarre smuggling attempts - in pictures