A man from Telangana swallowed two gold biscuits before flying from Dubai to Mumbai for a commission. He was to pass on the yellow metal to members of a smuggling syndicate. He walked out of the airport but didn’t realise he had already purged one biscuit before landing. When his body dispensed just one, the syndicate kidnapped him and demanded Rs 15 lakh ransom from his family. The police have arrested two men for his abduction.

Shankar Mathamalla, 45, was kidnapped barely a day after he landed in Mumbai on June 22. The kidnappers left him near a railway station in Puducherry after they realised the police were tracking them. As they continued their probe after Mathamalla was rescued, the Sion police arrested two men with links to an international gold smuggling syndicate. What seemed to be a straight kidnapping story turned out to be much more convoluted.