Mangaluru : The officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was arrested a aircraft maintenance technician working with Jet Airways at the Mangaluru International Airport for his alleged involvement in smuggling gold on Tuesday.

DRI deputy director Vinayak Bhat said that the intelligence input of the DRI Mangaluru indicated that gold smuggling was going on through the International Airport by adopting a modus operandi where gold bars of foreign make would be concealed inside toilets of aircraft flying from Gulf countries to Mangaluru. Upon arrival at Mangaluru, Lalbin Jeen, a maintenance staff at Jet Airways, who has connived with the smugglers, would board the aircraft on the pretext of maintenance work and retrieve the gold bars to be handed over to the agents of the smugglers at a designated place in the city.

Acting on the tip-off, the intelligence, the officers of DRI mounted surveillance at the airport on Tuesday and kept a close watch on the movements of the offender. The officers intercepted Jeen as he got off the Jet Airways flight 9W 531 that had arrived from Dubai. During the interrogation, Jeen confessed to the crime and produced two packets containing 5 ‘thola’ bars of gold each, which he admitted to have retrieved from the toilet of the said flight, a few minutes before his arrest.

He also informed the investigation team that the smuggled gold was supposed to be handed over to an agent at a mall in Mangaluru and the remuneration for his work was Rs 20,000. The smuggled gold, totally weighing 1166.5 gm and worth Rs 34.41 lakh, was seized by the officers and is liable for confiscation for violation of the provisions of Customs Act 1962.

Lalbin Jeen was produced before the Magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody. Further investigation is on.