MALAPPURAM: The Air Intelligence Unit of customs on Sunday arrested an airline employee at the Kozhikode airport for facilitating gold smuggling through the airport. The officials also seized a total of 2,309g of gold compound worth Rs 1.19 crore from him. The employee, Mohammed Shameem P P, who was working as a customer agent of Air Arabia, was detained at the airport terminal by the CISF officials.
Later, they informed the customs officials about the detention.
The security officials later handed over the employee and the gold compound in packets to the customs. A gold carrier, who reached the airport from Dubai by IX 346 on the same day, handed over the gold to Shameem at the aerobridge. The customs launched a detailed investigation into the incident. He will be produced before the court. Shameem might also have worked as an agent for gold smugglers.
Usually, smugglers influence the airport staff for the smooth execution of gold smuggling. Such staff in the airport receive gold from carriers inside the airport terminal and take it out of the terminal evading the eyes of the security personnel. They then hand over the gold to the smuggling team members waiting outside the airport. Earlier, in another case, the smugglers influenced the housekeeping staff at the airport for gold smuggling.