New Delhi, Feb 11: In a major embarrassment to Air India, authorities have found instances of gold smuggling by employees of the national carrier. A letter sent to the Executive Director of western region of Air India on February 10, the Customs Air Intelligence unit has highlighted serious lapses in the customs clearance by the Air India crew.
According to a report by CNN IBN, the letter talks about instances of 'smuggling of gold' by Air India crew members Nihal Prajapati and Sidhesh Patil. It highlights how an Air India crew member was caught while smuggling 3 kilos of gold valued at Rs 78.1 lakh when he was operating domestic flight AI-012 on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had detained an Air India cabin crew member at Mumbai International Airport last month for helping smuggle gold having total weight of 6.8 kg with valuation approximately Rs 2 crore.
In the letter, the Assistant Commissioner of Customs of Air Intelligence unit has asked the national flyer to instruct crew members to mandatorily undergo customs checks.
Smugglers are increasingly opting for safe arrangements for smuggling, like using crew members or contract staff at the airport to get rid out from security checking.
Earlier, in October 2013, 32 kg of gold biscuits, worth Rs 15 crore in the international market, were recovered from the lavatory of an Air India flight when it reached Chennai from Dubai. Four persons were later arrested in the case.
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