Airline stewardess caught for smuggling gold

April 10, 2014

Smuggling_gold

Hyderabad, Apr 10: Customs sleuths on Wednesday nabbed two women, including an Emirates airline crew member, for trying to smuggle in a total of 15.7 kg gold worth Rs.4.53 crore at the RGI Airport.

Gold_smugglingIn the first incident, sleuths nabbed Fatima Shaheen at 3.30 am when she landed at the airport via Qatar Airlines flight (QR 500) from Doha. The woman, hailing from the city, had hidden 2.7 kg of gold (two one kg bars and six 10-tola bars) among her clothes.

In the second incident, an off-duty flight stewardess employed with Emirates airlines was caught with 13 kg of gold (one kg bar each) when she landed at RGIA via an Emirates flight (EK 526) from Dubai at 10 am. She had concealed the gold in her hand baggage and had travelled as a normal passenger.

Despite the stewardess being caught red-handed, the customs sleuths did not reveal her name and other details. Despite repeated requests by the media, neither chief commissioner BB Prasad nor other senior staff including commissioner MK Singh revealed her identity. It was learnt by TOI that the secrecy was due to the fact that she hails from an 'influential' family in Maharashtra. Customs officials are now grilling both women to find out about the smuggling gang.

So far this year, the customs sleuths have seized 23 kg of gold worth Rs.6.6 crore in nine cases and arrested six offenders.

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Agencies
May 6,2020

A man posed as Superintendent of Police (SP), called up a subordinate police official and asked him to get his mobile phone repaired or face the consequences. But, his bluff was later called and the man landed in lockup.

Azamgarh SP Triveni Singh said the 23-year-old youth, Shubham Upadhyay, is the son of a farmer. He was preparing for competitive exams when his phone developed a snag on Saturday. He tried to reach out to local mechanics, but they were unavailable to fix it due to the lockdown.

Upadhyay used a free caller identification app to call up the in-charge of the Kotwali police station, K. K. Gupta, and threatened to shunt him out, if he failed to swiftly get the work done. Gupta grew suspicious and eventually caught the youth.

n his statement to the police, Shubham Upadhyay said, "On Sunday noon, I tried to breach the district borders to reach Lucknow to repair my phone, but since there was heavy police presence and barricading, I returned home. Later, I installed a free caller identification app in my handset and mentioned the name as SP Azamgarh and even uploaded a photo of the cop to appear genuine."

He first called SHO, Kotwali to get the phone repaired and was told the handset would be picked up from the SP office in an hour. Then, he called a businessman to bring his SUV and hand over his mobile to the SHO.

But when Upadhyay called the police again to suggest a separate meeting point, he raised suspicion. When the SHO tried to confirm the venue, Upadhyay got hesitant and said he would send a peon.

"I suddenly realised something was fishy and rang up the public relation officer of SP Azamgarh, who denied any such order from the SP. When the caller's number was scanned, it displayed the name of SP Azamgarh," said SHO Gupta.

A trap was laid and when the SHO reached the venue, he found one Praveen Shukla sitting in the vehicle. Police got the address of the accused from Shukla and reached Upadhyay's home in Bilariya locality and arrested him.

Upadhyay has been booked under IT Act and for threatening a public servant.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Nagpur, July 21: In a shocking incident, an 11-year-old boy allegedly killed self in Maharashtra's Nagpur city after being reprimanded by his mother for buying a samosa, police said on Tuesday.

Veeru Natthu Sahu was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his home in Ganga Nagar in Gittikhadan area on Sunday night, an official said.

The deceased boy's family was struggling to make ends meet after their small business was hit because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, he said.

The Class 7 student had taken Rs 10 from home without asking his mother and bought a samosa, which was then eaten by his elder brother, the official said.

The boy's mother scolded him for taking money without her permission and asked him to get the snack for himself, following which the distraught minor allegedly went into the kitchen and hanged himself using a saree, he said.

The Gittikhadan police have registered a case of accidental death in this regard, the official added.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 19: Bengaluru City Crime Branch (CCB) on Wednesday raided a spa in Koramangala area and rescued six girls.

The owner of the spa is absconding and the manager has been arrested.

Further details are awaited.

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