Gold smuggling: Involvement of Customs staffers at Mangaluru Airport raises eyebrows

coastaldigest.com web desk
November 1, 2018

Mangaluru, Nov 1: Customs employees at the Manglauru International Airport have once again come under the scanner after the involvement of two staffers in gold smuggling racket came to light recently.

Ashwin N V and Srikanth, both Customs hawaldars were recently arrested by the sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on charges of helping the gold smugglers at the airport. It is learnt that both of these officers had gained employment in the department on compassionate grounds.

Both the arrests come after the seizure of gold worth Rs 47 lakh from one Niyaz Khadar at the Airport on September 20. A resident of Mulleriya in Kasaragod, Khader was caught on his arrival here from Dubai.

After subjecting Khader to interrogation, the officials arrested Srikanth for helping the former and seized gold worth Rs 25 lakh from the latter’s residence.

The DRI officials, who continued the investigation, then arrested one Akbar Siddiq who was purchased the smuggled gold. During the interrogation, Siddiq spilled the beans on the involvement of hawaldar Ashwin, sources in the customs department said.

The involvement of insiders in gold smuggling had come to light at Mangaluru Airport in the past too. Department sources said that it would take strict action against the culprits after detailed investigation.

Comments

Well Wisher
 - 
Thursday, 1 Nov 2018

I had this doubt long back. How come people smuggle this much of gold with daring. If a normal passenger takes an 8 gms of gold, they try to harass him. What to do! Kachche din for India and Achche din for looters. Waw. what a cooperation between so-called Hindu namesakes and Muslim namesakes. Please hang them in public.

Respected CM Sir, please appoint some honest officers instead of such bullshit Veerappans. Honest like Singam Annamalai Sir. 

Jai Karnataka Jai Hind

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 29,2020

Mangaluru, Jun 29: An elderly woman who was tested positive for coronavirus, breathed her last at the designated covid hospital in the city today.

The deceased was a 60-year-old resident of Ullal.

According to sources, the woman, was getting treated for ailments related to liver and heart.

More details awaited:

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 12: Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has appealed to the Additional Chief Secretary to Karnataka government Jawaid Akhtar to exclude Dakshina Kannada district from hotspot/ red zone area pertaining to coronavirus, saying that the district has not reported any new case since last five days.

KCCI president Isaac Vas said DK district has not reported any new case of COVID-19 in the last five days. Of the 12 cases reported in the district, six are from Kasargod and one from Bhatkal.

None of the patients suffering from coronavirus are in ICU or put on ventilator, he said in a statement.

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News Network
February 22,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Student activist Amulya Leona, who was arrested on sedition charge after she raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans during an anti-CAA event at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday evening, has now criticised the organisers of the event for snatching away microphone from her hand.

The event was organised by ‘Hindu Muslim Sikh Isaai Federation’. Soon after she started pro-Pak slogans All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi rushed and tried to snatch mic from her hand. When she continued to speak, her microphone was deactivated.

According to police, the 19-year-old BA journalism student blamed her predicament on the organisers of the protest for not allowing her to complete what she wanted to say on stage.

"Maybe she had intended to say what she had recently posted on her Facebook page where she has said ‘Zindabad’ to all the countries, including India and Pakistan. But it went awry. She was not answering any of our questions, but kept saying she had not done anything wrong," a senior police officer was quoted as saying by a news paper.

The police have booked Leona for sedition and promoting enmity between groups. After her arrest, she was thoroughly questioned by the police for over two hours. After recording her statement, the police produced her before a magistrate in the wee hours of Friday. When she was taken to the judge’s residence, located at the National Games Village in Koramangala, Leona pointed towards the TV cameras and flashed a victory sign.

As the police did not seek her custody, the judge remanded her to judicial custody and she was subsequently taken to Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara. Her advocate is expected to file a bail application in the court on Monday.

When the police took her into custody at Freedom Park and quizzed her, she reportedly did not answer any of their questions but kept insisting that she had not done anything anti-national to be charged with sedition.

"It was the organisers’ mistake to snatch the mike from me before I completed what I had to say. Because of them, I have been arrested today. If they had given me a chance to complete what I had to say, nothing like this would have happened. Now, there is no point in telling you what I intended to speak there. But I can say that there was nothing anti-national in what I did. You can initiate action against me and my advocate will fight the case," a source, citing Leona, said.

The police recorded whatever she said as her voluntary statement and submitted it to the magistrate. "We tried to find out why she did what she did and whether there was anyone else behind her making such a statement. But it appears she had done it on her own," the police official said.

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