Thirty people who were detained at the Lucknow airport for allegedly smuggling gold into the country escaped after one of them pretended to fall sick and create chaos, officials said.

Customs and police officials have launched a search operation to nab the accused, they said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Shashank Singh said officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the Customs Department on Monday stopped 36 passengers from Sharjah at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport here.

Some of them had cash worth ₹ 23.90 lakh and cigarettes worth over ₹ 3 crore taken from them when the officials frisked them, according to Singh. He said that six of the travelers admitted to the authorities that they were carrying gold. During the questioning of the remaining thirty passengers on Tuesday, one of them made up an illness to cause trouble. According to the officer, they all took advantage of this and ran away.

He stated that an attempt is being made to apprehend the accused and that a case has been filed under pertinent sections of the complaint in the case.