Ex-cop who cleared SSC held for smuggling

THE MAN HAD HIDDEN THE GOLD UNDER THE WHEELS OF HIS TROLLEY AND HAD CROSSED THE GREEN CHANNEL BEFORE HE WAS STOPPED

NEW DELHI: A man, who had resigned from Delhi Police to prepare for another government job and had even cleared the Staff Service Commission (SSC) examination, has been arrested by the customs for smuggling gold at the Delhi airport.

The man had hidden the gold under the wheels of his baggage trolley and had crossed the green channel before he was stopped.

“Based on specific inputs, he was stopped but nothing suspicious was found from his baggage. Since, a few cases of gold smuggling had come to our notice where passengers had kept the gold elsewhere, the trolley he was carrying was checked. The gold was pasted under the wheels. A total of 1.5 kg gold worth `37 lakh was recovered from him,” said a senior customs official.

Officials said he had resigned from Delhi Police, where he was posted as a sub-inspector in 2011. Later, he started preparing for another government job. This year he managed to clear the SSC exams and was in the process of joining his new job. Sources at the airport said that he would not be able to join the government job now as he has been arrested for smuggling.

“He has admitted that he had successfully smuggled gold on 3-4 occasions in the past and used to earn a good amount of money,” the official added.

Around the same time, customs officials detected another case of gold smuggling where passengers had kept the gold in the baggage trolley. “The passenger was coming from Dubai via Bahrain and had kept four plates of gold on the plates pasted on the baggage trolley. Two kgs of gold worth `50 lakh was recovered from him,” the official said.

Another passenger who was coming from Dubai by a Spicejet flight had hidden gold inside a emergency light, which was kept in his check-in baggage. He was stopped after he crossed the green channel and 700 gms of gold was recovered from him.