9 kg gold that missed Customs’ eyes seized by city cops; 3 held
Police arrested three persons working in private firms at Chennai airport who allegedly helped smuggle nine kg gold worth Rs 4 crore, near Pallavaram on Thursday. The gang had managed to escape the Customs’ vigil but was busted by city police.
The accused Saravanan (30) of Pammal works in a catering firm that serves food for private airlines at the airport.
On Monday, around 4.30 am, while Saravanan was travelling towards Chromepet from the airport on his two-wheeler, a three-member gang intercepted and attacked him. They snatched his mobile phone, bike and the eight packages he was carrying. Saravanan filed a complaint with Pallavaram police, but when cops asked about the packages became evasive.
Police interrogated Saravanan and his colleagues Prabu Ram and Mohamed Nasir and found they were linked to a smuggling racket and were helping them smuggle gold out of the airport.
Further, police found it was Sheikh Mohamed of Triplicane and his friends Ismail and Mani, members of the group, who attacked Saravanan and looted the gold.
The gang had handed over the gold to Prabu Ram, who had planned the attack on Saravanan and staged it as a robbery. The police recovered the gold from Prabhu Ram.
The police also found that Elaya Perumal, who works in the airport housekeeping, had helped them smuggle the gold and Imram was the mediator for both the groups. So far, police have arrested Saravanan, Prabu Ram and Mohamed Nasir and they were remanded in judicial custody.