ORDER :

Petitioners are husband and wife. They face an indictment for the offence under section 135 of the Customs Act, 1952 (for short 'the Act') alleging import of gold, the market price of which exceeds Rupees One Crore. They were taken into custody on 18.05.2023 and hence seek enlargement on bail under section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, 'the Code').

2. Information was received by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Air Customs, International Airport, Calicut, that one Amjad Mihran was indulging in smuggling of gold into India using carriers, including family members. A strict vigil was therefore maintained over the passengers. Based on the intelligence input, petitioners, who were travelling from Dubai to Calicut by Spicejet Flight SG 54, were intercepted at the exit gate of the baggage hall at Calicut Airport on 16-05-2023. As mentioned earlier, they are husband and wife. Upon a thorough personal search, the Customs Officers seized 950 gms of gold in a compound form concealed in four capsules in the rectum of the first petitioner and a further 1198 gms of gold concealed in a compound form inside the panties worn by the second petitioner. The total quant