Flight attendant held in Kerala for smuggling gold

Thiruvananthapuram, July 31 A flight attendant with a private airline company was arrested at Karippur airport in Kerala's Kozhikode on Sunday.

The arrested Mohammed Shamim was trying to smuggle in gold worth Rs 1 crore through the airport green channel after an international flight from a Middle Eastern country landed at the airport.

CISF officials told that 2,647 grams of gold worth Rs 1 crore were seized from the flight attendant which was in the form of a liquid mixture.

It may be noted that Karippur airport in Kozhikode has been a hub of gold smuggling activities with several airline employees arrested earlier by the Customs and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Gold smuggling has become a major social and law and order issue in Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasargod districts of Kerala. Several carriers are being used by the gold smuggling racket offering them to and fro air tickets to Middle Eastern countries and an amount of Rs 25,000 to 30,000 as the fee for carrying gold.

According to gold bullion traders if gold worth one kg is smuggled into India it fetches Rs 5 lakh in profit to the smuggler and after spending an amount close to Rs 75,000 for a carrier, including his flight ticket and the pocket money he is given, the smuggling network gets a profit of around 4.25 lakhs.

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