Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Mangaluru, on Tuesday arrested an aircraft maintenance technician with Jet Airways at the airport here on the charge of smuggling gold.
They seized 1,166.5 grams of gold valued at ₹ 34.41 lakh from the accused Lalbin Jeen. He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody, according to Vinayak Bhat, Deputy Director of the directorate.
The accused boarded Flight 9W 531 after it arrived from Dubai in the morning on the pretext of maintenance work and retrieved five tola gold bars each from the rear toilet of the aircraft. The gold bars of foreign origin had been concealed in the toilet.
He was caught while he was alighting from the aircraft with two packets of gold hidden in the back pocket of his trousers.
The accused stated that the smuggled gold was supposed to be handed over to an agent at the City Centre Mall in the evening, according to Mr. Bhat. His remuneration for the entire work was fixed at ₹ 20,000. He had connived with the smugglers, Mr. Bhat added.
Further investigation is on.
