A record 1 tonne of smuggle gold has been seized from the Mumbai airport this year, but the precious metal is not the only thing smugglers have been trying to sneak past Customs officials. In the second instance of wood smugglers being caught this month, three passengers and one ground staff member were caught by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) yesterday. The three men, who were supposed to fly to Bangkok aboard 9W 70 at 7.50 am yesterday, were trying to smuggle out 135 kg of Agarwood, valued at Rs 10 lakh. Tameem Hussain Shaikh, Rehan Abdul Karim Nakade, Sudarshan Vittal Kotian (a former ground staff member) and Parvati Waghmare, a current ground staff member who wasn’t on duty at the time, were caught by the CISF while they were wrapping their bags for checking them in. The three had stuffed the Agarwood in five bags and were wrapping them up before checking them in (wrapping the luggage is not mandatory and is done to keep the bags safe). Waghmare was helping the passengers with the bags.
22/12/14 Neha LM Tripathi/Mid Day
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22/12/14 Neha LM Tripathi/Mid Day
