Police-gold smuggler nexus at terminal exposed in cop transfer
Picture used for representational purpose. (Photo: PTI/File)
Chennai: In pointing out that a TN policeman attached to the immigration dept had links with a gold smuggler operating through Chennai airport and forcing the police to transfer him out, officials of the directorate of revenue intelligence have dropped sufficient hints that operation ‘clean-up’ should begin at the Chennai airport in right earnest. The policeman was transferred back to Tamil Nadu Special police on Thursday for his suspected link with smugglers.
A smuggler caught by DRI officials with 3 kg of gold on Tuesday night on his arrival from Kuala Lumpur had exposed the policeman during an interrogation. Detailed questioning by DRI sleuths had revealed that the particular policeman was hand in glove with smugglers. DRI had traced the cop’s call records and found that he was in regular touch with the smuggler in the past. “Though the policeman had denied it, the smuggler had confessed his links,” airport sources said.
This is not the first time that the nexus between smugglers and officials working at the airport has been exposed.
Two weeks ago, a group of ‘kuruvis’ (carriers) and their associates protested in front of the airport complaining of harassment by customs officials, the reason being a new customs official, who was not familiar with the under-the-table activities of her colleagues, was in charge and she started seizing gold from all the ‘kuruvis’.
“There have been incidents where the customs officials have kept the gold brought by the carriers with them and later took it out of the airport’s security zone on a commission basis,” sources pointed out.
It is reported that all the carriers coming from abroad will have a list of customs officers working at the time of their landing. A few years ago, CBI had conducted raids and arrested many customs officials and their broker, but the nexus and the corruption does not seem have stopped.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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