Airport ground staff held for aiding gold smuggling

HYDERABAD: Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials of the customs department cracked the whip against international gold smugglers. The AIU team went a step further from just arresting only the carriers. They also nabbed six persons waiting outside the airport to receive the gold from the carrier. AIU also arrested a ground handling staff at the RGI Airport.
Based on inputs received about gold smuggling being carried out at the ramp area inside the airport, AIU sleuths stepped up surveillance. At 12.56am on May 3, they observed suspicious movement of a ground handling staff near Parking Bay No. 56L, next to an aero bridge. The sleuths saw the suspect throwing some object in the dark area beneath the aero bridge and intercepted him.

The suspect identified himself as a helper of Visskan Aviation P Ltd, working for Indigo in the ground handling team. AIU recovered a purse thrown away by the suspect and found 14 gold bars weighing 1.6kg. The value of the gold was Rs 52.1lakh. The suspect was arrested by the customs sleuths. During interrogation, he said, based on instructions of a city-based smuggler, he had picked up the gold from a passenger who arrived from Sharjah in an Indigo flight.

Customs sleuths said the passenger was identified but he and the city-based smuggler are yet to be arrested.According to customs officials, the ground handling staff, whose name has not been disclosed, was not on duty at the time of his arrest.