Three flight attendants of Vietnam Airlines were stopped by customs officers at the Incheon airport, Seoul, on Nov. 12 after 20 taels of precious metal thought to be gold were found in their carry-on luggage.

The spokesman of the national flag carrier, Le Hoang Dung, confirmed the report to the Vietnam News Agency in the afternoon of the day, saying the three were crew of flight VN937 on the route from the Republic of Korea (RoK) capital city to Hanoi.

RoK authorities had sent the three to a hotel awaiting for the result of the test of the metal on their possession, Dung said.

He pledged due punishments to the flight attendants if their illegal activities are confirmed.

“Vietnam Airlines will never shield or tolerate any legal violations of their staffs,” emphasised the corporation spokesman.

He added that the corporation is waiting for information from the RoK authorities to decide due disciplines.

Just one day before the incident, Vietnam Airlines issued an instruction on tightening flight management to ensure security and prevent flight crew from getting involved in gold smuggling on international routes amid the gold fever in the domestic market./.