Air India employees found involved in 13 gold smuggling acts, says Aviation Ministry

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India states that the active involvement of Air India staff was noticed in 13 gold smuggling attempts during the past three years. While addressing the Parliament, G.M Siddeshwara, Minister of State, Civil Aviation pointed out that necessary disciplinary action has been taken against all staff found indulged in such illegal acts.

Earlier, Air India-the national air carrier of the country, had expelled two ground staff for allegedly aiding gold smugglers.

According to the report, the accused supervisor had taken illegal gold bars weighing 3kg worth Rs 90 lakh from a passenger who had arrived from Dubai. The employee had concealed them behind a dustbin to take back later. The other ground staff had allegedly taken gold bars weighing 7.2kg worth Rs 2 crore from another passenger who had arrived from Dubai last December.

Upon interrogation, the employees admitted that they used to help gold smugglers by passing on the smuggled gold to agents outside the airport. Earlier, airline staffs were not subject to security screening when they leave the premises and this loophole was used for helping gold smuggling rackets.

Following the series of incidents, Indian Customs department has decided to make it mandatory for all airline staff to undergo customs clearance before exiting the airport.