30 female travellers were intercepted by customs officers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Tuesday evening, November 23.
A statement by state officials indicated that 15 of the women were found with approximately 4.88kgs of undeclared gold and jewellery when a body search was conducted.
15 other women who were on board the flight were asked to cancel the flight to allow for further investigations.
"The travellers are directly associated to three female travellers earlier intercepted entering Mumbai with approximately 1 kg of gold concealed internally on 19th August 2021," reads an excerpt of the statement.
The suspected scammers are believed to evade tax by transporting tax in small amounts concealed as jewellery which is then distributed to a large number of travellers - each carrying a small amount.
The group was departing from Nairobi to Mumbai, India through Doha. The intercepted gold and jewellery was deposited in the customs warehouse.
The government has since encouraged passengers to declare all cargo or items at the Ports of entry and exit as required under the provisions of the Second and Third Schedules of the EAC Customs Management Act, 2004.
The incident came months after a suspect running a fake jobs racket was arrested.
Boniface Okuko was defrauding job seekers of their money by promising non-existent jobs at JKIA. Okuko had also adopted a fake name to conceal his identity.
The 29-year-old suspect had presented a fake letter of offer to a detective posing as a jobseeker.
"The detective had been offered a financial analyst position, in the offer letter purported to have been issued by Eurocraft Agencies, a ground handling company at the country’s aviation hub," read a statement by DCI.
