GVK official nabbed while trying to smuggle out Rs 39 lakh gold

The first case of a terminal manager being involved in gold smuggling in Mumbai has emerged In the wee hours of yesterday a deputy manager of the domestic terminal was caught from Terminal 2 T2 while trying to pass on a consignment of smuggled gold to a man waiting outsideRight to left Shahbaaz Khan gave the consignment of gold to Kanumetta Jagadish Babu 37 deputy manager facility services GVK Babu was supposed to deliver it to Mohsin Shaikh who was waiting outside the domestic terminalThe manager has confessed to having successfully pulled it off eight times in the past The nabbed manager was identified as Kanumetta Jagadish Babu 37 deputy manager facility services GVKBabursquos duty is at the domestic terminal of Mumbai airport At around 4 am yesterday officers of the Central Industrial Security Force CISF saw Babu at T2 the international terminal Noticing him loitering about officials followed himldquoThen he brought out a package from his pocket and tried to conceal it This confirmed our suspicions that he was doing something wrong We approached him and asked him to show us everything in his possessionIt was then revealed that the wrapped package had gold barsrdquo said a CISF officer present on the spot 14 gold bars of ten tolas each 1624 grams in all were recovered from his person The consignment is valued at Rs 3958 lakh and Babu was taken in for questioningExperienced handUpon interrogation Babu initially tried to deflect any blame and said he had been deputed to T2 He then said he was there to help someone out Further questioning led to him confessing that he was helping clear out smuggled gold from T2Babu said he had received two packages from a passenger after which CISF seized his phone and checked the last dialled number Officials from Air Intelligence Unit Mumbai Customs were also notified of the developmentsTogether authorities intercepted the passenger who had delivered the package Shahbaaz Khan Khan had arrived from Sharjah via Air Arabiarsquos G9406 Further grilling revealed that the consignment was to be delivered to one Mohsin Shaikh who was waiting at the city side of the domestic terminal T1 Customs officials detained Shaikh as wellBabu was to go to T1 from T2 using the internal bus service on the airside Babu revealed he had helped smuggle out gold from T2 eight times in the past these consignments total nearly Rs 25 crore A resident of Chembur he has been working with GVK for the last six years Babu hails from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh and has completed his MBA from VisakhapatnamThe manager was to receive Rs 50000 for clearing this package more than his monthly salary of Rs 45000 Babu celebrated his wedding anniversary on Thursday and his wife recently had a baby boy on November 29ldquoUsually the cut helpers get is around Rs 25000 per kilogram of gold but their rate has gone up in the past few daysrdquo explained an AIU official He further added ldquoThis interception was a result of a wellcoordinated effort between the CISF and AIUrdquoldquoInvolvement of an official at such a high level casts doubt on GVKrsquos handling of the airport especially when gold smuggling is on the rise An internal crime syndicate cannot be ruled outrdquo said a Mumbai Customs Officer The official spokesperson of Mumbai International Airport Limited a joint venture between GVK and Airport Authority of India Ltd confirmed the incident