The customs officials arrested a cabin crew member of Air India, named Shafi, hailing from Wayanad, for smuggling gold at the Kochi Airport on Wednesday. Shafi was caught with 1,487 grams of gold. He had wrapped the gold around his hands and covered them with the sleeves of his shirt to pass through the green channel. The Customs Preventive Commissionerate received confidential information about Shafi's smuggling activities, and took custody of him. He is being interrogated further, the officials said.

In a separate incident, two passengers who arrived from Singapore were arrested at Chennai Airport for carrying 6.8 kg of gold worth ₹3.32 crore, Chennai Customs said. The incident happened on Wednesday.