Gold worth ₹1.89cr seized, airline staff among 5 held
A security officer of a Bangkok airline, a professional footballer and a software graduate were among several passengers caught for trying to smuggle gold and jewellery worth Rs1.89 crore and saffron valued at Rs32.59 lakh at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in the past three days . Five of them were arrested.
According to the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), the 33-year-old airline officer, Amit Bhostekar, was intercepted when he was on duty. “We recovered three gold bars valued at Rs78 lakh from him. He had retrieved them from a seat pocket of a flight,” said an officer. Bhostekar’s interrogation led the AIU to Mohamed Suhail, 46. They were arrested.
In another case, three passengers from Kerala were intercepted for carrying nearly 26kg of saffron valued at Rs32.59 lakh. They were identified as Muhammed Ali Banoor Ahmed, 29, Muneer Beeran, 26, and the 31-year-old footballer, Aboobacker Siddique Turuthi Basheer, who plays for Island Arts and Sports Club, Kasaragod in Kerala, and had participated in a Dubai tourney.
The AIU also intercepted Vidyanagar Anwar Shafi, 33, from Kerala with a gold bar worth Rs14.97 lakh concealed in the inner pocket of his trousers. Shafi is a graduate in computer application from Bangalore University and is a repeat offender. Similarly, Neesar Abdul Khader, 42, was caught with gold worth Rs13.92 lakh hidden in a trolley bag and Arjun Manghani, 27, a resident of Canada, was ques tioned for carrying diamond studded gold jewellery worth Rs9.60 lakh.
Two passengers were inter cepted who had concealed gold bars in their rectums. The pas sengers are Samina Altaf Shaikh 31, from Goregaon, who carried three gold bars worth Rs6.87 lakh and Dinesh Hundraj Chellani, 30 from Ulhasnagar, who was caught with a gold bar worth Rs5.58 lakh. AIU also arrested a 45-year-old Thane resident Rajesh Rajagopalan, for possess ing gold jewellery worth Rs60.15 lakh. His accomplice, identified as Amit, was also arrested.
Meanwhile, the AIU arrested a 26-year-old South African flier for trying to smuggle 12 packets o white crystalline powder pur ported to be Methaqualone worth Rs4 crore. Victor Van Niekerk was to depart to Addis Ababa.