Ex-Armymen smuggled 25kg gold

CHENNAI: Two retired Armymen and their aides, arrested by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officers on Friday for conniving with gold smugglers, helped a cartel smuggle at least 25kg of gold from Singapore and Gulf countries.
DRI officers apprehended former lieutenant colonel Ganesan, 44, who runs an agency in charge of security at the air cargo complex, and his partners in crime, former subedar Karunanidhi, 51, Francis, 34, and Sahul, 36, in a coffee house in Adyar, where they were to rendezvous with a jeweller and hand over smuggled gold bars to him.The officers seized 6kg of gold bars worth 1.8 crore from them.
An investigating officer said Francis earlier acted as a ‘kuruvi’ (courier) while smuggling cellphones from abroad. He would later sell the phones in Burma Bazaar in the city. “We are searching for the big fish who controls the smuggling cartel from the city,” the officer said.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Delhi had given Ganesan’s agency a contract to provide security at the air cargo complex. The agency had been on the job for the past 18 months.
Inquiries revealed that Francis met Ganesan, who is physically challenged, through a mediator and they struck a deal to sneak gold out of the airport after it had been smuggled into the country by parcel. Ganesan appointed Francis as a ‘field officer’ in his agency.
“Former subedar Karunanidhi would take smuggled gold bars from the cold storage area in the air cargo complex under the guise of inspecting the goods there,” the officer said. “Sahul and Francis, who manned the security camera monitoring room, would ensure no one else saw footage of Karunanidhi taking out the gold.”
The officer said the cartel chief in Chennai would hire people in Singapore to send gold bars concealed within biscuit or fruit cartons. The consignments would arrive at the air cargo complex where Ganesan and his aides would make sure they bypassed scanning machines and have them placed in the cold storage area.
The DRI officer said Karunanidhi wore elastic leg bands under his trousers and stuck the gold bars in them while taking them out, carrying out the job surreptitiously in the early morning hours. He would later meet Francis, Sahul and Ganesan and they would pass on the gold to jewellers or smugglers for a hefty cut.
After Friday’s arrests, CISF has taken over security at the air cargo complex.