4 baggage handlers held for stealing gold at MIA

Mangaluru: Bajpe police arrested five persons, including four baggage handlers of Air India SATS, for allegedly stealing gold jewellery worth Rs 4.5 lakh from a passenger's baggage on Aug 30. The accused are Nithin, a resident of Kandavara, Sadananda and Rajesh, residents of Mooduperara, and Praveen Fernandes from Bajpe.City police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH said that on Aug 30, a woman passenger who travelled from Bengaluru to Mangaluru on an Air India Express flight collected her luggage from the baggage belt at Mangaluru International Airport. Upon checking, she realised that gold jewellery weighing 56g, worth Rs 4.5 lakh, was stolen. Following her complaint, Bajpe police station registered a case under Section 303(2) (theft) of BNS and initiated an investigation.During the inquiry, police took into custody four loaders/unloaders working with Air India SATS at the airport. Upon interrogation, the accused admitted to stealing the jewellery from the baggage of the AIE flight on Aug 30. They further confessed to selling the stolen gold to Raviraj, a resident of Mooduperara. Police recovered a 50g gold ingot worth approximately Rs 5 lakh from the accused. Raviraj was also arrested under Section 317(2) of BNS for purchasing stolen property.Further investigation revealed that in Jan this year, the same accused stole Rs 2 lakh in cash from passenger Manohar Shetty's baggage. That case was already registered at Bajpe police station and was under investigation. The four accused worked with Air India SATS for around nine years. All the accused will be produced before a court, and police custody will be sought for further investigation.Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused targeted baggage containing valuables like gold and cash, often opening bags during handling. In some cases, they exploited easy-to-guess numeric lock passwords to commit theft. Police have urged passengers not to be negligent and to remain alert when carrying valuables in checked-in baggage.