Man arrested after trying to smuggle 'poo' on plane, it ended up being gold

Photographs of a previous find, at Hyderabad Airport in the southern state of Telengana, went viral online because of the faeces-like appearance of the paste. Photo / Australscope

An air passenger found with a package of what appeared to be human poo taped to his stomach was released without charge after it turned out to be a small fortune in so called "gold paste".

The substance, which has to be heated with kerosense in order to extract the gold, is increasingly being used by smugglers in India.

Customs officers confiscated the package - said to be worth 1.5 million INR (30,500 NZD) - but let the man go free after his discovery at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Indian capital city of Delhi.

One customs officer, who did not want to be named, said the gold was seized but the man had not otherwise been held as the value did not exceed two million INR (40,700 NZD).

"If he pays the duty and penalty, the seized gold will be released on the spot," he said.

Photographs of a previous find, at Hyderabad Airport in the southern state of Telengana, went viral online because of the faeces-like appearance of the paste.

Photo / Australscope

In the latest case, the man was pulled out for a search by officers of India's Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) after the package activated metal detectors.

Cops initially thought the a sticky yellow-ish substance really was human faeces but it turned out to be 650 grams of the so-called gold paste.

The passenger, an Indian national, had arrived at the airport from the United Arab Emirates resort city of Dubai and was going through security on his way to board a connecting flight to the western Indian city of Mumbai.

A CISF spokesman said: "During frisking, a sub-inspector from the CISF detected something under the passenger's pants as the metal detector beeped.

"On manual checking, we found a pouch attached below the man's waist with masking tape. When we cut the pouch open, there was a dark yellow paste in it which was initially thought to be human excreta."

- Australscope