UAE: Woman slips part of smuggled 3kg gold into friend's bag

An African woman was caught attempting to smuggle 3kg of gold bars into the UAE on Sunday.

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According to Emarat al Youm, the woman tried to deceive customs officials at Dubai Airport by transferring a portion of the 24 karat gold bars to her friend’s bag.

She then denied that she had anything to declare at the exit gate.

"When the suspect collected the bag, she was followed up with through operations and field teams to ensure her arrival at the checkpoint," said Khalifa bin Shaheen, director-in-charge at Terminal 3.

Bin Shaheen stated that though Dubai Customs had a pioneering system to inspect goods, a big challenge for them is finding the balance between facilitating the movement of goods and passengers while still staying alert to any attempts to smuggle dangerous or illegal goods into the country.