Tiff over sharing gold with CISF man blows lid off smuggling racket

A HEAD CONSTABLE OF THE CISF, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SECURITY AT AIRPORTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, IS SUSPECTED TO HAVE LINKS WITH GOLD SMUGGLERS

A gold-sharing dispute helped Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) authorities zero in on a head constable who was allegedly helping a smuggler sneak the precious metal into the country. The officer has been suspended.

Sources said the accused allegedly used his position to help the smuggler whisk large amounts of gold out of the Chennai airport on several occasions. However, their “business arrangement” hit a southward trajectory after the head constable decided to keep all the gold for himself on the last few occasions.

“The smuggler blew the lid on the matter after the head constable stopped returning their gold. He unofficially complained to a senior officer, after which officials at the CISF’s Delhi headquarters came to know about it,” a CISF official said on the condition of anonymity.

Following the disclosure, the CISF asked its airport staffers to frisk all the officials emerging from the airport. They were also forbidden from venturing into areas where their presence was not required – a stricture that the head constable violated.

“Every CISF staff has assigned duties. Ideally, someone on entry gate duty should not go to the check-in area. As this particular officer was a company rider, his job was to make the roster. So, all the other staffers were wary of him,” the official said.

Although there was little clarity on the exact amount made by the head constable so far, an initial inquiry suggested that his bank account has been witnessing large transactions for a while now. “The accused would get a commission of ₹1 lakh for every kg of gold worth ₹26 lakh, and he has been doing this for six months,” the official said.

The head constable used to meet the smuggler near the aerobridge, and take the gold from him. “As he was a CISF officer, nobody checked him. After coming out of the airport, he would hand over the gold to the smuggler. The commission would then be transferred to his account,” the official said.

Confirming the incident, CISF director general OP Singh said they would seek legal opinion before filing an FIR against the head constable.