Four passengers have been arrested from Gwalior airport after the recovery of one kilogram of gold concealed in the form of pencils glued to their stomachs, an official said on Sunday.

The value of the smuggled precious metal was estimated to be about Rs 60 lakh, the official said. Based on a tip-off from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the customs and police personnel on Saturday conducted a search of the passengers who arrived in a flight at Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior airport from Mumbai and recovered one kg of gold from four of them, Additional Superintendent of Police Mrigakhi Deka said.

The gold was shaped as lead pencils which the accused had glued to their stomachs, she said. Some currency of the United Arab Emirates was also found with them, the official said. The four accused, all residents of Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, were arrested and a case was registered against them under provisions of the Customs Act, the official said. The police along with customs and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials were interrogating the accused, she said.

(With PTI inputs)