(Image source from: Gold stash found in Jet Airways plane loo})

Aircraft janitors working on a Jet Airways plane pulled out a hidden stash of 24 gold bars worth over $1.1 million from the lavatory of a Kolkata-bound plane. The incident took place at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The Jet Airways plane, which normally flies on international routes, was flying from Bangkok to Kolkata via Patna that morning.

The cleaners were alarmed when they discovered two bags hidden in the toilets of the plane that initially triggered a bomb scare. On further probe, they discovered 12 gold bars hidden in each parcel and alerted the customs office in Kolkata.

Indian, one of the biggest consumers of gold globally, witnessed a surge in smuggling after import duties were spiked three times this year to try and dampen the demand for this precious metal.

Smugglers have been taking advantage of India's flight schedules to get gold into the country without declaring it to the customs.

"The cleaning staff of the airport were going though their routine duties and found two bags in the toilets of the plane," director of the airport B P Mishra told AFP.

The one-kilogram gold bars "have not been claimed by anyone. No arrest has been made as yet".

Custom officials assume that the gold was secretly stashed into the aircraft toilet at its international point of departure with the aim of getting the gold in the country, as the same aircraft also runs domestic lines. A new passenger, then, will collect the gold on the domestic leg and walk out unchecked with no custom official blocking his way.

This isn't the first of its kind of an instance, however. Just last month, 280 gold bars was recovered from the toilet of a Dhaka bound plane that was flying from Dubai.

Even Chennai Airport reported a similar case last month after 32kg of gold bars were found hidden in the toilet of a plane that had started out in Dubai.

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury