HYDERABAD: The arrest of a ground staffer at the RGIA on charges of smuggling gold on Thursday was a result of a four-month long meticulously-planned operation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
Aslam, the staff member of Menzies Bobba Ground Handling Services, was held on Thursday after he helped smuggle 3.03-kg gold from the airport. With this being the second such arrest in four months at the RGIA, security vulnerabilities at the international airport have been brought to the fore.
Details about the gold smuggling operation first emerged on January 15 when DRI sleuths arrested another Menzies and Bobba worker, Srinath, who was picked up with gold bars weighing 4.65 kg hidden in cigarette packets on an aerobridge. The gold had been delivered by a passenger arriving from Dubai on a Qatar Airways flight.
On interrogation, Srinath confessed that he had received the yellow metal from a ‘carrier’, based on the instructions of his senior colleague Aslam. In fact, it was Aslam who was supposed to have picked up the gold, but he noticed the movement of DRI sleuths near the aerobridge and sent Srinath instead.
After Srinath’s arrest, Aslam became cautious and resisted getting involved in any nefarious activities for a few months. Enhancement of the screening process for staff to enter aerobridge following Srinath’s arrest also prevented him from sending his men onto the aerobridge to collect gold from the ‘carriers’ before they entered customs check area.
After analysing the enhanced security in place, Alam soon got in touch with the gold smuggling racketeers in Dubai once again. “He began to collect gold from carriers after they came off the aerobridge. He used to bypass CISF personnel posted in the area to exclusively screen staff members entering the aerobridge,” said a DRI official.
DRI officials had begun monitoring Aslam’s activities after Srinath’s confession. On Thursday morning, three small teams kept a watch on his movement in order to catch him red-handed. Aslam, who was supposed to take care of ground-handling work for British Airways flight, reached a ‘designated spot’ when an Emirates Airways flight landed that day. “Aslam was not supposed to be there as Menzies and Bobba does not handle ground-handling work for Emirates flights at RGIA. Aslam reached there to collect gold from the carrier who arrived on an Emirates flight from Dubai,” said a source working at the airport.
Aslam had received the photograph of the carrier from his Dubai-based handlers through WhatsApp and had deleted it after taking a look, sources said. The carrier also called Aslam after the flight landed in Hyderabad and told him what kind of clothing he was wearing. The latter then met the carrier and got his immigration formalities processed quickly after informing the staff that the carrier was his relative. “After the immigration check, Aslam took the carrier to a ‘blind spot’ and collected the gold from him. After collecting the gold, Aslam used his security pass to bypass customs’ check area and left the arrival block,” a DRI official said.
However, the DRI teams caught him at the VIP parking area when he was about to leave on a bike. After arresting him, DRI sleuths realised that there was no receiver at the airport and they tried to arrest the carrier. However, the carrier had already left, thanks to quick immigration clearance he got. “The carrier was not carrying any checked-in baggage so he managed to leave quickly. His phone was also turned off,” sources said. The carrier is a resident of Dubai and might be arrested soon, according to sources.
Aslam was produced before the court on Friday and remanded in judicial custody.
Speaking about the case, DRI additional director general, MK Singh said, “This is yet another case where personnel employed with agencies functioning at the airport have been found to be involved in the gold smuggling. Further investigation is on.” Prior to January-arrest of Srinath too DRI sleuths had cracked down on smuggling at the airport with the arrest of GHIAL security wing personnel. There had been suspicion regarding the role of certain CISF personnel as well.