Priest Disguises Gold Bars As Chocolate To Evade Customs Duty

Customs officials at Cochin International Airport in India fined a priest last week for attempting to evade paying taxes on 300 grams of gold by disguising it as chocolate.

The Catholic priest, 59, was traveling to India from a parish in Switzerland, where he had been working. He brought with him three 100-gram gold ingots, which were wrapped up to look like bars of Swiss chocolate, The Local reported. He attempted to walk through customs without declaring the $12,000 worth of gold.

Customs agents noticed the priest acting suspiciously, so they inspected his bags and found the contraband.

The priest was not arrested, but he was fined about $1,200 — the normal 10 percent customs duty. Officials are looking into whether the priest has been involved in other instances of smuggling gold, according to The Hindu.

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