Kozhikode: Two customs officials were suspended in Karipur International Airport for pilfering gold smuggled in by a passenger on July 26. Customs superintendent Pramod Sabitha and Havildar Sanith are the officers who faced the disciplinary action.
An inquiry was conducted after a CCTV footage revealed the officials taking Shihab, the passenger, to an area that wasn’t under camera surveillance. The official action followed the inquiry. A few months ago, a flight attendant was arrested at the same airport for smuggling gold worth Rs 4.5 crore in shoes, and the person had admitted to doing so six times in the past. The Customs had nabbed Air India Express cabin crew Navneet Singh with 1.25kg gold.
Following this, it was revealed that the gold smuggling gang would leave the gold in the washroom of the plane and Navneet was tasked with smuggling it out after hiding it in the shoe. Gold smuggling through airports continue unabated despite heightened vigil and links between smuggling rackets with flight crew and Customs personnel have come to light in several cases.
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