Airport cargo hub is easy target for robbers

Mumbai: On Sunday, two armed men entered the cargo complex of Shamshabad airport in Hyderabad, threatened employees and escaped with 10 kg gold. While an armed robbery of this kind may not be easy to get away with in Mumbai's cargo complex, theft of imported goods-especially those involving mobile phones-is reported frequently.
"In the last couple of years, we have registered about 6-7 cases of thefts of consignments containing imported mobile phones,'' said a source from Sahar police station.
The latest one took place about two months back when a consignment of 15 mobile phones worth Rs 5 lakh was stolen from the cargo complex.
Sources from the cargo complex confirmed that imported mobiles were high on the stolen goods list. "We cannot entirely rule out that a Hyderabad-like incident cannot take place here. Hundreds of people handling agents, private security personnel etc-walk in and out of the cargo complex every day and not many have got their police verification done,'' said a source.
Source say the Mumbai cargo complex with its seven warehouses and about 6,000 sq-m of parking area is not a very difficult target for thieves, despite the presence of private security guards. The complex handles about 300 metric tonnes of imported goods and about 320 metric tonnes of goods for export every day.
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09/09/08 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Sep 2008, Cargo Sep 2008