Indian passenger caught with $178,000 in gold hidden inside speaker at Bangkok airport

Thai customs officers detained an Indian passenger arriving from Jakarta at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after finding more than 1.3 kg of gold hidden inside a speaker.

The gold is worth more than THB6 million (US$178,000), the Customs Department said, according to Thai business daily Bangkok Biz News.

Officers from the Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger Control Customs Office searched the man's belongings on Oct. 1 on suspicion that he was smuggling gold into Thailand.

Photos published by Thai media show gold bars and smaller pieces on a scale beside a dismantled speaker.

The man was taken into custody and the gold was seized pending legal proceedings, the department said. Media outlets have not named him or said what charges he faces.

Gold bars seized from a passenger at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Oct. 1, 2026 sit on a scale beside the speaker they were hidden in. Photo courtesy of Thailand’s Customs Department

The seizure came a day after officers at the same airport stopped two foreign passengers, who had also flown in from Jakarta, with U.S. dollar banknotes worth more than THB56 million (about $1.7 million) concealed in their luggage, Khaosod English reported.

That case followed an order from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas for customs officers to tighten checks on currency entering and leaving the country, and the airport's passenger customs office said it has stepped up surveillance and inspections of passengers it considers high-risk.