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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News Network
August 9,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 9: Swollen rivers and flood-like situation continue to threaten lives and property in several parts of Karnataka that have been ravaged by torrential rains over the last few days.

Though there has been a respite from the downpour in some parts, rivers continue to flow above the danger mark, inundating low lying areas in several parts of Malnad, coastal and interior Karnataka.

There are also reports of continued landslides in hilly areas of Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru.

In Dakshina Kannada, heavy rains have submerged several areas in Bantwala and Belthangady, among others, with the Netravati river overflowing and also water being released from nearby dams.

Officials said incessant rains in Cauvery river catchment areas have led to increased inflow in the Krishna Raja Sagara dam in Mandya district. Water is being released from it and people living in low lying areas have been warned, they said.

There is also a flood-like situation in Najanagudu and nearby areas of Mysuru as the swollen Kapila river has inundated roads connecting Ooty in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, with water being released from Kabini dam.

There has been some respite from heavy rains in certain parts of Kodagu, which has been ravaged by floods and landslides. However, several areas of the district continue to be in deluge with the Cauvery and Lakshmana Tirtha rivers overflowing due to rains in the hilly areas.

There are also reports of landslides in some parts of the district.

Meanwhile, continuing rains are hampering the search operation by NDRF and authorities to locate five people, including the priest at Talacauvery, the origin of the river Cauvery, who had gone missing due to massive landslides at Bramhagiri hills on Wednesday night.

There are also reports of landslides at a few places in Charmadi ghat region of Chikkamagaluru and the road connecting to Dakshina Kannada has been closed temporarily.

Though Belagavi district has had some respite from the heavy rains, flood like situation continues to persist as the Krishna river and its tributaries are swollen due to continued inflows because of rains in neighbouring Maharashtra.

Inflow has also increased to the Tungabhadra dam of Ballari district due to rains in the catchment areas of Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru.

Authorities have alerted people living in low lying areas about opening dam gates to release water anytime with rising inflow.

There is a similar flood like situation in parts of Yadgir, Raichur and Bagalkote districts with water being released from various dams.

The state government has released ₹ 50 crore for emergency relief and has announced ₹ 10,000 as immediate relief each to affected families.

An amount of ₹ 5 lakh has been announced for completely damaged houses, while in the case of partially damaged ones, relief will be distributed considering the extent of damage.

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News Network
July 27,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 27: Former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday took strong exception to the BJP's celebration over completing one year in office and alleged that people are suffering due to anti-people policies of the state government.

In a tweet on Monday, he said that since the last six months pension due to physically challenged, old age and Widow pensions were not paid. He urged the Government Issue emerge order to release pension amounts immediately. It was shameful on the part of the Government to keep the pension amount being kept pending.

This government has no eyes and ears and claiming only challenging years and transparent government, what examples required for them, he questioned.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 12,2020

Mangaluru, Jun 12: A huge crowd gathered for the grand opening of the newly built 175-metre-long two-lane bridge across Phalguni River on National Highway 169 near Gurupura on the outskirts of the city today.

Even as the photos of the bridge inauguration ceremony went viral on social media, netizens took the elected representatives and the district administration to task for flouting safety norms at a time when the coronavirus cases are continuing to mount in coastal Karnataka.

The bridge was completed in a record time of 15 months. Dakshina Kannada MP and State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel and district in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojari inaugurated the bridge in the presence of Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty and others.

The bridge has come as a breather to thousands of travellers between Mangaluru-Moodbidri-Karkala on the busy NH. The age-old steel bridge had become dilapidated and was a cause for concern for road users. The highway is also under the process of getting widened to four lanes.

The bridge was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 30 crore by contractor Sudhakar Shetty of Mugrodi Construction. Work started in February last and the contractor had time till February next.

While the two-lane carriageway is 16 metres wide, the bridge has 2.5-metre-wide pedestrian paths on both the sides. New approach roads of 500 metres each were also part of the project.

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