Mumbai: Corruption and pilferage of seized contraband by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Mumbai Customs posted at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is rampant, a whistleblower at the Mumbai Airport Customs has complained to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Central Vigilance Commission.
The alleged thefts in high security restricted customs zone has caused major embarrassment to the airport customs department. In the complaint, the whistleblower has highlighted the case of smuggled gold concealed in laptop, speakers, and a wristwatch on 5 August 2022 being detected during baggage screening. The consequent search by AIU officials led to the arrest of the passenger arriving from Dubai and the seizure of the contraband.
A recording of the baggage screening machine showed a gold biscuit, two half gold biscuits and a gold bangle but the panchnama reported 2085 gm of gold biscuit, two half gold biscuits and half bangle valued at more than Rs94 lakh. “The screen clearly shows a gold biscuit, two half gold biscuits and a bangle but the seizure shows only half a bangle, which proves the gold was pilfered by AIU officials,” alleged the whistleblower.
The seizure report, a copy of which is available with Free Press Journal, prepared by the AIU D-Batch officers mentions seizure of 24karat 1 kg gold bar, 2 pieces of 24 karat gold cut pieces, and a half gold bangle of 24 karat from Mr Kaushik Kumar Balar arriving on Air India flight AI 0984 from...
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