Two courier employees who were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly stealing a consignment worth Rs1.44crore from the airport’s cargo last month have revealed that after they opened the parcel, they were frightened to see the jewellery and gold. The duo even attempted to head back to return the parcel, but were scared of getting caught so they fled, police sources said.
Joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy said that on the night of December 21, an expensive consignment was delivered by a Hyderabad-based courier company to their Mumbai-based partners from an Air India flight. The consignment reached Mumbai airport on December 22.
“Due to a mix-up, the valuable consignment got mixed with the normal consignment in the cargo in Mumbai. Courier employees Santosh Kadam, 33, and Ravindra Satam, 40, who had gone to collect parcels for their respective firms, stumbled upon this consignment and concealed the said parcel in their own trolley and left,” said senior inspector Deepak Phatangde of Unit VIII of crime branch.
“The duo came till Sahara Star Hotel junction and opened the consignment. When they learnt the parcel was filled with gold and diamond jewellery, they got frightened and decided to put the parcel back in the cargo. They went all the way back to airport but got scared that they would be caught by the police. They then left the premises again,” said an interrogator.
The duo then took a rickshaw from the airport to Bandra and then took a cab from there. “They told the police during interrogation that while they were in the cab, they opened the parcel again and were counting biscuits. Suddenly, the cab driver applied the brakes, due to which some biscuits fell in the cab. At least three gold biscuits are missing from the parcel, which we believe would have been left in the cab. The duo don’t even remember the registration number of the taxi and hence it will be difficult to trace the vehicle,” said another police officer. The duo is under police custody till January 10.
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