1. Home
  2. Bengaluru: 2 airport officers held for smuggling

Bengaluru: 2 airport officers held for smuggling

[email protected] (Agencies)
March 13, 2017

Bengaluru, Mar 13: Two immigration officers of Kempegowda International Airport were arrested on Sunday for allegedly aiding smuggling of gold bars and ornaments. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence sleuths caught one of them receiving 3kg gold from a Malaysian passenger in an airport toilet.

smugglingPraveen Kumar and PD Katkar, sub-inspectors with the Bureau of Immigration, were to allegedly hand over the consignment to rackete ers outside the airport. "Acting on a tipoff that KIA insiders were part of a smuggling racket, we stationed our men at key points," a DRI investigating officer said about the operation.

Around 9.10 am on Sunday , a couple -Arjunanan Velu and Shanti Narayanan -ar rived at KIA by a Malaysian Airline flight (MH-104) with 3kg gold worth Rs 90 lakh. Velu, a Malaysian national, went to the toilet near the passenger immigration counter; his wife, an Indian passport holder, waited outside.

"Around 9.30am, a man met Velu in a toilet. Velu han ded him a pouch with 2kg gold bars and the rest in ornaments. Our sleuths nabbed the duo in the restroom," the officer added.

The man who accepted the smuggled goods was identified as immigration officer Katkar. During questioning, the officer allegedly said he was acting on colleague Praveen Kumar's instructions.The officers, who face no stringent frisking because they enjoy a degree of immunity, had planned to slip the goods out and hand them over to a smuggling gang outside the premises. Smugglers had allegedly promised the immigration officers huge sums of money for the job. The passengers were arrested and then remanded in judicial custody.

The couple claimed they were under pressure to act as conduits and said it was their first attempt.The role of immigration officers in the racket seems to be deeprooted. "We suspect a nexus between Indian smugglers and the apprehended immigration officials," a senior DRI officer said.

A probe is under way on the possible involvement of other Bengaluru airport officials in the racket.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 23,2020

Panaji, Feb 23: A MiG-29K aircraft crashed off Goa during a routine training sortie on Sunday morning, the Indian Navy said in a statement.

"The pilot ejected safely and has been recovered. An enquiry into the incident has been ordered," the statement said.

On November 16, a MiG-29K trainer flight had crashed after a bird hit, soon after it took off the Dabolim International airport, which functions out of the Indian Navy base INS Hansa.

Both pilots had managed to safely eject themselves to safety after both the engines of their jet failed.

According to data tabled in the recent budget session of the Goa Assembly, every ten days, at least one aircraft landing or taking off at Goa's Dabolim international airport faces dangers involving birds or stray dogs near the runway.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 5,2020

Nagpur, Apr 5: A 23-year-old man allegedly committed suicide in Imambada area in Nagpur on Saturday due to financial distress, police said.

Nikhil Gavhane, who worked in a grocery shop, hanged himself as he had taken money from a person and was stressed over repayment, an official said.

"He was depressed since a week," the Imambada police station official said.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 7,2020

Palghar, Mar 7: Police have arrested a man for allegedly cheating several shopkeepers in Maharashtra's Thane, Pune and Nashik by making phone calls in a woman's voice, police said on Friday.

The accused, Shashikant Ambekar (42), a resident of Palghar, was arrested in the last week of February, they said.

"He used to note down the phone numbers mentioned on different shops and call the owners in a woman's voice to order some things from them. He would tell them that he had a Rs 2000 currency note and needed change," an official said.

"He would ask the shopkeepers to send smaller denomination notes for exchange. He would wait at the entrance of buildings and when the delivery man arrived, he used to tell that he was there on behalf of the ''caller woman''.

"He would then take the currency notes from the delivery man saying he would get the Rs 2,000 note from the woman. However, he would disappear from the scene," the official said.

Police have seized Rs 1,85,000 from the accused and found that so far he has committed 22 similar crimes in different parts of the state.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.