50 gm gold bangle, seized at KIA, goes missing from customs office

A gold bangle weighing 50 grams which customs officials seized from a woman passenger in July has gone missing from their office on Queen’s Road.

Officials have knocked on the police’s doors to find out how the bangle went missing and take necessary action. Officials had seized three bangles from the woman, while just one of them is missing from the sealed packet.

A recent complaint filed by Rajiv S Kittur, deputy commissioner (vigilance), with the Commercial Street police, stated that the bangle weighing around 50.01 grams worth Rs 2.3 lakh has been missing from the package kept in the disposal section in customs chief office.

The incident came to light on February 23 when officials, in the presence of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), opened the sealed package along with packages of other seized valuables to make an inventory.

Rajiv told police that it is learned that the bangle has been stolen by someone, so he requested the police to trace the stolen bangle.

The bangle was seized by the D batch customs officials at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on July 18, 2020. A woman passenger, Bharathi Pai Reddy, arriving from San Francisco, had three bangles weighing around 146.6 grams. Since she didn’t possess the necessary documents, custom officials did mahazar (spot inspection) and seized the bangles. The jewellery was handed to the disposal section on August 14.

When DH contacted a senior customs official, he said: “The matter is still in the preliminary stage. They aren’t aware if the bangle was missing when it was sealed or if it went missing from the disposal section. So, we can’t reveal much detail about the case.” He said the case registered against the woman is still on.

Stolen from strongroom?

An investigating officer from Commercial Street police station said during the seizure, and whenever they remove the seal, officials do the mahazar in the presence of the SDM. The bangle must therefore have been stolen from the strongroom at the disposal section. The customs officials are going to do an internal investigation and file a report.

“At the same time, we’re also going to question the staff and verify the CCTV camera footage. The efforts will be made to detect the case,” the officer added.

The strongroom and the customs office have security guards deployed for duty round the clock.