I will teach you how to take smuggled gold out of the airport safely,” a ground team supervisor allegedly told his team leader before handing over the contraband. However, the plan collapsed within minutes as officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted a raid at the Mumbai airport. In a moment of panic, the team leader — part of the third-party cleaning staff — allegedly sprinted up the aerobridge staircase and threw the smuggled gold in a desperate attempt to escape detection. Both men, employed with a leading ground-handling service provider, were later arrested by the DRI, officials said.
According to DRI sources, the accused have been identified as Shankar Patil, 51, a resident of Navghar, in Bhayandar West, and Sunil Verma, 30, a resident of Bhayandar East. The agency recovered 1.2 kg of gold dust in wax form, valued at around Rs 1.6 crore, from the aerobridge staircase attached to Vector 23 at the Mumbai airport.
A DRI official said the flight had arrived from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Friday, when the incident took place. During interrogation, Verma allegedly admitted that he was the one who ran up the staircase and threw the package containing the gold. He also claimed that his supervisor, Patil, had retrieved the smuggled gold from the aircraft and handed it over to him, promising to “teach him” how to take it safely out of the airport.
Investigations revealed that international passengers part of a smuggling syndicate would conceal foreign-origin gold inside the aircraft upon arrival in Mumbai. REPRESENTATION PIC/ISTOCK
Verma allegedly told investigators that he had been promised Rs 10,000 for carrying and transporting the gold out of the airport and returning it to Patil once clear of the terminal. However, before they could execute the plan, the DRI team intercepted them. “Panicking at the sight of the officers conducting personal searches, Verma allegedly climbed the staircase attached to the aerobridge, hid the package beneath a white cloth at the top step, and returned to the tarmac pretending nothing had happened,” said a DRI officer. Acting on suspicion, the officials recovered the black package wrapped under a white cloth, which contained gold dust in wax form.
During questioning, Verma also allegedly revealed that Patil had assured him of protection if they were caught. “He told me not to worry — that he would rescue me if any agency stopped me,” he told officers. Investigations have revealed that the modus operandi involved international passengers, part of a smuggling syndicate, concealing foreign-origin gold inside the aircraft upon arrival in Mumbai. Later, cleaning service staff with authorised access would retrieve the concealed gold and attempt to remove it from the terminal through a network of complicit personnel, DRI officials added.
