DELHI- Authorities announced the arrest of seven individuals suspected of pilfering valuables from travelers’ bags at Delhi Airport.
The apprehended individuals, namely Manoj Kumar, Hari Darshan, Balwinder, Praveen Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Subodh, and Satish Kumar Verma, successfully recovered various items, including high-end luxury watches.
Gold Items Discovered Missing From Bags
Recovered from the suspects were a trove of valuable items, including gold jewelry, currencies from five different countries, two sets of Apple AirPods, a stylish pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, and two high-end luxury watches – a Rado and a De Grisogono.
The genesis of this case lies in a formal complaint lodged at the Delhi Airport police station by Paramjeet Kaur, a resident of Punjab. Kaur revealed that she had flown into Delhi from Melbourne on September 16 with plans for a connecting flight to Amritsar, as detailed by a senior police official.
Facing the issue of overweight baggage prior to her Amritsar-bound flight, Paramjeet Kaur opened her bags and rearranged their contents. However, upon reaching home, she discovered that her gold items were mysteriously absent, as conveyed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Devesh Kumar Mahla.
Police Arrested Suspects
As part of their investigative efforts, the police thoroughly examined CCTV camera recordings and conducted interrogations of the loaders on duty during the relevant shift.
A significant breakthrough in the case came when a video sent by Hari Darshan was discovered on Manoj Kumar’s mobile phone. In the video, Hari Darshan can be heard saying, “This jewelry is fake; nobody will get anything for this,” as confirmed by Devesh Mahla.
Subsequent to this revelation, both Manoj Kumar and Hari Darshan confessed to the theft of the gold jewelry and its subsequent sale to a jeweler. They also admitted to pilfering various items from other passengers’ bags.
They alleged that employees from various airlines collaborated with them in the thefts. Subsequently, five more individuals were apprehended by the police in connection with this matter, according to the officer’s statement.
Allegations of Involvement by Airline Staff in Stolen Articles Heist
It has come to light that the airlines involved have not been adhering to the periodic guidelines provided by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and have also neglected correspondence from the Delhi Police, as stated by the officer.
The investigation has unveiled the involvement of certain senior airline officials who were complicit in aiding the accused, and their roles are currently under scrutiny. Interrogations of airline personnel are also underway, as stated by the police.
The accused effectively manipulated the airline’s security officer to grant them leniency while handling the loading and unloading of baggage from the aircraft, as revealed by the police.
They enlisted the assistance of the duty officer, whose responsibility was to assign tasks to the loaders to ensure that the accused were exclusively deployed in the holding area.
Further investigation is ongoing to understand their full extent of involvement comprehensively. As a result, no one from the airline has been arrested at this stage, according to the police.
The mastermind of the gang, Manoj Kumar, possessed expertise in identifying bags likely to contain valuable items. Hari Darshan and Balwinder worked as loaders and were responsible for disposing of the stolen jewelry. Praveen Kumar, another loader, diverted the attention of officials during search-and-frisk procedures, according to the police.
Sanjeev Kumar and Subodh, both loaders, deliberately delayed handling baggage during loading and unloading operations. On the other hand, Satish Kumar Verma is the jeweler who purchased the stolen jewelry from the accused, as confirmed by the police.”
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