Two passengers intercepted with gold at Ivato airport
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on L'Express de Madagascar
Two travellers bound for Dubai were arrested at Ivato International Airport after suspicious items were detected in their clothes. A search revealed unhallmarked gold jewellery, according to L’Express de Madagascar.
Two passengers travelling to Dubai were intercepted at 4.50pm on Wednesday at Ivato International Airport in Madagascar with 275 grams of gold jewellery hidden in their clothes, L’Express de Madagascar reports. Mining officials confirmed the metal was gold; the jewellery, which was unhallmarked and poorly made, was seized. The two passengers are being questioned as part of an investigation.
The interception brings the quantity of gold seized by customs at Ivato to more than three kilos in seven days, according to L’Express de Madagascar. A few days earlier, a foreign national had been arrested with 2.85 kilos of gold hidden on her person.
Madagascar’s president of the Refoundation, Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, estimates that about 100 tonnes of gold leave the country illegally each year, the outlet reports. The Madagascan president spoke of these gold flows to Dubai on 21 October, after asking on 3 October for all aircraft leaving Madagascar to be searched. The arrest of a traveller caught at Ivato with 2.85 kilos of gold was reported on 24 October.
