Photo: Screenshot of photo posted by Twitter user @chathootti
After a 32-year-old man used a wig to look 81-years-old so he could flee the country under a false identity, a recent incident involving wigs is just as head-scratching. A man named Noushad was caught at the Cochin International airport in the city of Kochi in Kerala, while attempting to smuggle about 1.13 kgs of gold under his wig on Friday, October 4.Perhaps inspired by the man in Barcelona who tried to smuggle cocaine under his wig in July, Noushad, who hails from Mallapuram district of Kerala, was caught before he could board a flight to Sharjah. To conceal the gold, he went all out and shaved most of his hair off so it could be neatly tucked under the wig. Wrapped in a discreet black cover, the gold was in a paste-like compound form that doesn’t show up on airport metal detectors.Noushad could have easily gotten away except the customs unit of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) were given a heads-up about a smuggler and were thoroughly checking all passengers, leading to them catching the young man red-handed.Smuggling gold in a compound form has become quite an issue for the Kerala customs department and such incidents have been on the rise since last year. While CIAL admits that they have nabbed smugglers who try to sneak stuff in their underwear or ass, this is the first time someone was caught hiding it under a wig.So even though this smuggler’s idea was pure gold, he now has a probe against him and is probably going behind the bars.Follow Shamani Joshi on Instagram.
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