5 Jet airways employees held for stealing luggage, cargo

The Santacruz Airport police, on Friday, arrested contractual employees of 5 Jet Airways for two separate theft cases at the domestic airport. The burglaries had been going on unchecked for the last one and a half years, according to the police, and only came to light when the airline’s security team found certain items in the workers’ possession that did not belong to them.

In the first instance, a 26-year-old man was arrested for stealing goods from a passenger’s luggage and from cargo while delivering the goods from the conveyer belts to the aeroplane. “We have recovered three laptops, perfumes and a video camera, with a total net worth of around Rs1.25 lakh,” said Dilipkumar Taral, senior inspector with the Santacruz Airport police.

In the second case, the police arrested a group of four persons who stole goods from the plane’s cargo. A driver, with the help of a loader, would steal electronic goods and other products from the cargo and passenger luggage. They then took those goods out of the premises to sell. “An estimated Rs. 5lakh worth of goods have been stolen by them. We have arrested four accused and are now looking for the sold goods to recover them,” Taral said. The accused have booked under sections 379 (punishment of theft) and 34 (act done with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.