Mumbai: With the government slapping heavy customs duty on gold imports, gold traders in India are buying smuggled gold brought by frequent flyers on airlines.

These flyers are trying to sneak in gold inside socks, cellphone battery sockets, and even in the bottom layers of cartons.

On Sunday (Feb 2),  as many as 10 passengers who were aboard the same Air India flight were caught with 8 kg gold worth Rs. 1.9 crores.