100 kg gold looted from Mumbai airport

The great daylight robbery

The stolen coins are valued at Rs 20 crore and were destined for Hyderabad. The police said preliminary inquiry revealed that the robbers were armed with guns and revolvers and barged into the high security zone around 11.30 am.

A guard identified as S Bhosle tried to stop them and raise alarm, but the robbers fired at him and injured him.

According to Air India, the six boxes containing gold and silver coins belonged to Pidilite Industries and was to be sent to Hyderabad. When the attack was in progress, the officials of Pidilite Industries had just completed the formalities for sending six parcels of gold and silver coins weighing 145 kg. The parcels were then taken for security screening when the robbers struck.

“While two parcels were screened, four men armed with guns came in a car, threatened the staff, overpowered the security and decamped with four parcels.

A senior person from the Pidilite also suffered head injury in the melee. The security guard received a bullet wound in his leg and was admitted to hospital for treatment.

The robbers put the booty into a large lorry and drove  away. Nobody could stop them. It was after sometime that security near the airport and the cargo booking area was beefed up. The domestic terminal at Santracruz has been undergoing a major renovation programme by the Hyderabad-based GVK Infrastructure group. The attack was so well planned that the guards and the police got no chance to stop the robbers, who obviously had done a recce before undertaking the operation.

GVK spokesperson Manish Kalghati confirmed the development, which has put serious question marks on the security arrangements at the cargo as well as passenger terminals, which are supposed to be heavily guarded.