Mangaluru, Feb 26: Customs officials at Mangalore International Airport on Wednesday arrested a man for trying to smuggle gold worth over Rs 26 lakh by concealing it in his rectum.
The accused has been identified as Moideen Arzan, a resident of Uppala, Kasaragod.
According to police, he arrived from Dubai by an Air India flight and was attempting to smuggle the gold which he had converted in the form of paste and concealed in rubber capsules inside his rectum.
Bengaluru, Mar 19: To better enforce social distancing and prevent further spread of Covid-19, the Karnataka health and family welfare department on Wednesday said it will "stamp the back of the palm" of international passengers advised to be on home quarantine, along with the date they are allowed to get out of home. The stamping process began at 12am Thursday.
Pankaj Kumar Pandey, commissioner, health and family welfare, said: "It is noted that a few passengers under home quarantine are not following the instructions. Therefore, it has been decided to stamp the back of the palm of their left hand with a specially designed stamp which will indicate the last day of quarantine."
He said the special stamp will use an indelible ink and "airports in Karnataka have been instructed to follow this without fail". On average, about 3,000 people are arriving in Bengaluru on international flights every day.
The department said social distancing is the only known method of combating the spread of Covid-19 and added, "International passengers are segregated as symptomatic and asymptomatic."
High-risk flyers kept at mass quarantine unit
The symptomatic passengers (Group-A) are taken to designated hospitals; asymptomatic ones, depending on the port of origin, are taken to the quarantine centre or permitted to go on home quarantine.
At the mass quarantine centre, the asymptomatic passengers are divided into moderate-risk (Group-B) and high-risk (Group-C) categories.
“The high-risk passengers are kept at a mass quarantine centre for medical observation. The moderate-risk passengers are being sent for home quarantine where they need to spend 14 days,” the statement added.
Pandey said: “International passengers changing flights within the country cannot be stopped. Ideally, they should be stamped at the first port of entry when they arrive from a foreign country which is not happening.” He said this issue will be brought to the notice of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation.
Dubai, May 3: Over 150,000 Indians in the UAE, who wish to return home amid the coronavirus lockdown, have applied through the online registration process to the Indian missions here, according to media reports.
The Indian missions in the country last week opened online registration for the expatriates who wish to fly back home after getting stuck in the country amidst the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As of 6 pm on Saturday, we received more than 150,000 registrations, Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul told the Gulf News on Saturday.
A quarter of them want to return to their homeland after losing their jobs, he said.
According to a report in the Khaleej Times on Sunday, about 40 per cent of the applicants who have registered are blue-collared workers and 20 per cent are working professionals.
"Roughly 20 per cent have suffered job losses and about 55 per cent of the total applicants are from Kerala," Neeraj Aggarwal, Consul, Press, Information, Culture was quoted as saying in the report.
Aggarwal said that the figures would change as they are expecting registrations from workers from other states, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
About 10 per cent of the applicants are visit and tourist visa holders who got stranded here due to the ongoing lockdown in India.
India extended the ongoing lockdown by two weeks from May 4 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has affected nearly 40,000 people in the country.
Aggarwal said that a small number of the applications constitute those from pregnant women and other medical cases.
Since the online registration process was launched, the Consulate's website crashed several times due to the heavy rush of applicants wishing to register to fly back home.
The site has been working fine now though it took a lot of time for it to stabilise in the initial phase due to the heavy traffic, the counsel general said.
He said that the missions here have not yet received any information from the Indian government about the mode of transport of the stranded citizens, the prices of the tickets or how the COVID-19 test results of applicants would be assessed for their journey.
There are high-level discussions going on regarding these things, he said in the report.
Meanwhile, Norka (The Non Resident Keralites Affairs) said it has received a total of 398,000 applications from Keralites across the globe who wish to return home.
"Of which, the highest numbers are from the UAE. At least 175,423 applicants have signed up from the UAE," Norka said in an official statement on Saturday.
It also received 54,305 registrations from Saudi Arabia, 2,437 from the UK, 2,255 from the US, and 1,958 from Ukraine from those who wish to return to India, the Khaleej Times reported.
The coronavirus has infected 13,599 people and claimed 119 lives in the UAE, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said on Saturday.
Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7: The Managing Director of Muthoot Finance company was injured after miscreants allegedly pelted his car with stones here on Tuesday morning following which one person was reportedly taken into custody.
George Alexander Muthoot, who suffered head injury has been admitted to a private hospital, police said.
A section of employees have been agitating against the Muthoot management over dismissal of 160 staff from the company's 43 branches across the state in December.
The protest is being held under the aegis of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
While the Muthoot management alleged that "CITU goons" were behind the attack that occurred at around 9 am in front of IG office here, the union leaders have maintained that they have no role in the incident.
Reacting to the incident, Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan said he does not think any of the Muthoot employees were behind the attack.
"The employees were protesting peacefully. Violence is not part of their protest. Even now, in today's incident, I don't think any of the Muthoot employees attacked the MD.
However, it was the management of the company which had always provoked them by not implementing the decisions taken at conciliatory meetings," the Minister said.
If the management was prepared to change its stance, all the issues would be resolved, he said.
CITU leader Ananthavattom Anandan told reporters that they do not believe in such type of violent mode of agitation.
An official of the Confederation of Indian Industries Kerala chapter condemned the incident, saying "it is a matter of great concern".
Well known businessman and founder chairman and CEO of V-Guard Industries, Kochouseph Chittilappilly condemned the attack and said it was unfortunate that such incidents still continue in the state.
“Earlier also such incidents have taken palace. It's highly condemnable. The union leaders will now claim that the incident took place without their knowledge. But without the backing of union, such incidents will never happen,” he said.
Kerala-headquartered Muthoot Finance is the largest gold financing company in India.
Comments
"Get rich quick and by any means syndrome"
Those Economy Saboteurs/ Smugglers are very Desperate People whose means of livelihood depends Solely on their Criminal Activities.
WHAT is driving these people so crazily into CRIMINALITY?!
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