That may not be universally applicable but if you go by the media coverege it may well be the case in India; gold > drugs. Not to mention the special skillset required to sneak in this metallic substance in the age of metal detectors and heightened vigilance against gold transportation across national borders; again at least in India. You can't swallow a kilo or two of gold nuggets wrapped in a condom and then crap them out at your destination. Or can you? Skimming through some news reports, this headline instantly caught my eye and resulted in a chuckle or two:

"Woman flyer wears 6 undies to hide 2kg gold"

No crapping out gold but oh what lengths will smugglers go to find desperate mules and come up wtih inventive schemes - all in the name of meeting the gold demand of 1.3 billion people whose government insists it knows what is best for them.

The Times of India reports:

"Customs officials arrested a woman passenger who had concealed 2.14 kg gold jewellery in her underwear at the international airport on Friday. She had worn six pairs of underwear to hide the gold valued at Rs 54.2 lakh. The passenger, Jama Dabir, a Kenyan national arrived from Nairobi and was stopped by the customs on suspicion. "We do passenger profiling based on certain parameters and picked on her. Our lady officers noticed that she was finding it difficult to walk indicating something amiss," an official said.

Dabir had wrapped the gold jewellery in a plastic bag and concealed it between legs. "The six sets of underwear provided support to jewellery," the official added. This was Dabir's third visit to India and she was supposed to hand over the jewellery to someone. Customs officials said they believe she had smuggled in gold during her previous visits too. "She has not admitted to it," the official said."


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