Two gold bars weighing 1 kg each bearing foreign markings and two thin gold sheets weighing 100 gm each were recovered (Photo | Special arrangement)
Two gold bars weighing 1 kg each bearing foreign markings and two thin gold sheets weighing 100 gm each were recovered (Photo | Special arrangement)

Smuggled gold worth Rs 1.09 crore seized from airplane catering employee in Hyderabad

Inquiries revealed that the accused had been working for a flight catering agency at the airport and used to retrieve gold concealed in planes originating from the Middle East

HYDERABAD: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Hyderabad, arrested an employee of an airplane catering service who was involved in gold smuggling and recovered gold worth Rs 1.09 crore from him. DRI officials said that the accused was intercepted on Saturday while he was moving in the city. He has been sent to judicial custody.  

Based on specific intelligence, DRI officials intercepted the staffer and found that he was carrying smuggled foreign origin gold. Two gold bars weighing 1 kg each bearing foreign markings and two thin gold sheets weighing 100 gm each, worth a total of Rs 1.09 crore, were recovered from him.

Inquiries revealed that the accused had been working for a flight catering agency at the airport and used to retrieve gold concealed in planes originating from the Middle East. The carriers, while disembarking from the aircraft, concealed the gold in different areas like the toilet, cavities in the aircraft and also under the seats. Information about this was passed to the accused by his handlers abroad.

As the accused had access into the planes at the time of unloading and loading food trays, he would retrieve the concealed gold and carry it outside the airport and then to receivers in the city. Further investigations are in progress, the DRI said.

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