Mangaluru : An Aircraft Maintenance Technician working with Jet Airways at Mangalore International Airport, Bajpe was arrested on 25.07.2017 by the officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Mangalore, for his involvement in smuggling of gold.
DRI Mangalore, developed a specific intelligence which indicated that gold smuggling is going on through Mangalore International Airport by adopting a modus operandi wherein gold bars of foreign make would be concealed inside toilets of aircrafts flying from Gulf countries to Mangalore and upon their arrival at Mangalore.
Mr. Lalbin Jeen, a maintenance staff of Jet Airways who has connived with the smugglers, would board the aircraft on pretext of maintenance work and retrieve the gold bars so concealed with a plan to hand over the same to the agents of smugglers later on at a designated place in the city.
Acting on the intelligence, the officers of DRI Mangalore, mounted surveillance at the airport in the morning hours of 25.07.2017 and discreetly kept a close watch on the movements of the offender. The officers intercepted Mr. Jeen, once he got down from the Jet Airways flight 9W 531 arrived from Dubai.
During interrogation he confessed his guilt and produced two packets from the back pocket of his trousers containing 5 tola bars of gold each, which he admitted to have retrieved from the rear toilet of the said flight just a few moments earlier. He also stated that the smuggled gold was supposed to be handed over to an agent at the city centre mall in the evening and his remuneration for this entire work was fixed at Rs. 20,000.
The smuggled gold, totally weighing 1166.5 gms and having a market value of around Rs. 34.41 lacs was seized by the officers and is liable for confiscation for violation of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
Mr. Lalbin Jeen was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mangalore and was remanded to judicial custody. Further investigation is in progress based on the leads provided by Mr. Lalbin Jeen.
