Calcutta, Sept. 27: Sleuths suspecting something foul in the frequent arrival of welding guns from China today prised open some of them and found cellphones stuffed inside.

The phones seized are worth nearly Rs 75 lakh, according to initial estimates.

“They arrived in a single consignment of the Singapore Airlines flight from China last night. We are trying to track down the Delhi-based importer,” a senior airport official said.

The importer’s clearing agent in Calcutta was being questioned till late tonight.

Over 75 welding guns were in the consignment and each had “40-50” phones inside their hollow butts.

The cargo had undergone X-ray, but airport officials said personnel trained to detect explosives or narcotics could not readily identify other objects.

“A decision to search the consignment was taken as the customs intelligence wing had apprehended some valuables could be concealed,” an official said.

A large number of welding guns had arrived from China only a few days ago.

“There was an unusual rise in the arrival of such consignments and so we decided to check them thoroughly this time,” a customs source said.

The phones are priced between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000.

According to officials at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose international Airport, this is the largest consignment of smuggled phones caught here.

The consignment was being searched till late tonight for “other hidden valuables”.

Singapore Airlines officials said that they were not aware of the phones being smuggled into Calcutta. “The cargo is taken to the customs warehouse which verifies the contents before delivering them to the import agent,” an airline official said.

“At the point of boarding, too, the export agent provides us the list of items being exported and it is up to the customs at the destination to open and verify the contents,” he said.