These smugglers won't be feeling quite so flush

These smugglers won't be feeling quite so flush Cleaners working on an aircraft in eastern India have found 24 gold bars worth more than £620,000 hidden in a toilet compartment - the latest in a series of smuggling attempts uncovered at the country's airports. The cleaners had boarded the Jet Airways plane at Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) airport on Tuesday after it had travelled from the eastern city of Patna. It had earlier been flying on international routes that included the Middle East. Smugglers have been using a loophole in India's flight schedules to attempt getting gold into the country without having to declare it to customs officials. The gold is secretly stashed in an aircraft toilet at its international point of departure, where it remains when the plane lands at an Indian city. Because that particular aircraft is then used to continue on as a domestic flight, a new passenger picks up the gold on the domestic leg and leaves the plane when it lands, knowing that there will be no customs checks. India, which rivals China as the world's biggest gold consumer, has seen a rise in smuggling after import duties were increased three times this year to try to dampen demand for the precious metal. Just last month an aircraft cleaning crew found 280 gold bars worth £1.17 million inside a plane's toilet after it flew from Dubai to the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka.