Customs officials at the Mumbai Airport on Wednesday arrested an on-duty service engineer with Air India for allegedly helping smuggle gold worth ₹44.10 lakh from Bangkok to India.
The man waiting to receive the gold bars has also been arrested.
V. Rama Mathew, Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Airport, said in a statement that during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, officers of the Air Intelligence Unit intercepted Janardhan Gunaji Kondvilkar, a senior superintendent-service engineer with Air India, on the basis of specific intelligence.
Mr. Kondvilkar was exiting the aerobridge after attending to his duty on flight AI-331, which had arrived from Bangkok. On searching him, officers found eight cut pieces of gold bars, together weighing 1.6 kg, worth ₹44.10 lakh. The gold was seized under the Customs Act, 1962.
Officials said Mr. Kondvilkar has admitted to the possession, carriage and recovery of the gold. Vijay Jagdish Rawal, who was waiting outside the airport for the gold, was then arrested.
