Three arrested in diamond heist

Loaders held as Sahar police crack the case within 48 hours

Sahar police have arrested three loaders who work at Mumbai’s international airport in connection with the gold and diamond heist that occurred on Thursday night.

Prakash Shinde, 29, Gerald D’Costa, 29, and S Rajak, 32, were taken into police custody late Saturday night. They have been working as loaders at the airport for 10 years.

Sahar police investigators questioned 23 Mumbai international airport staffers, including Air India security personnel, loaders, supervisors and other ground crew, in relation to the stolen cargo of gold and diamonds, collectively valued at Rs4.66 crore.

The precious cargo kept in two packets, arrived in a locked container weighing 3.5 kg, and was offloaded from a Thai Airways flight on Thursday night by Air India handlers. It went missing soon thereafter.

The police have been able to establish that the container — in which the two packets carrying gold ornaments worth Rs9 lakh and diamonds worth Rs4.57 crore were placed — was broken into while being transported to a strong room.

“Prompt action taken by the police led to the zeroing in on three loaders who have been arrested. We expect to crack the case without further delay,” said deputy commissioner of police RN Tadvi.

Assistant commissioner of police Janardhan Garje said, “The three loaders were found to have handled the container at the crucial segment when it was broken into.”

Senior police inspector of the Sahar Airport police station, Chandrahas Krishan Chavan, told DNA: “We had initially interrogated two Air India security personnel [one junior officer and a supervisor].

While the senior officer said that his job profile entails watching over his junior colleague, the latter stated that he is assigned several duties around the airport. The lock on the closed container, carrying the valuables, was broken open between Bay 53 and the dumping point for open containers.”

Chavan stated that the complaint was lodged by Air India employeeS Pednekar, who informed the police that the cargo consignment was to be transferred to the State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of a party from Surat, Gujarat.

He added that there were faults in the procedure used to transport the cargo — after it had been offloaded — to the strong room.

An Air India spokesperson told DNA: “We have a mechanism in place for handling of such consignments and have handled many such ‘precious cargo’ containers in the past. In this instance, something appears to have gone awry.”

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) senior commandant Sanjay Prakash said, “The CISF does not involve itself in the handling of cargo for airlines unless a specific request is made to provide security cover.

It is the responsibility of the cargo handling airline, in this case Air India, to intimate the customs department immediately after the cargo is handed into their possession and ensure the consignment is taken with due security and stored in the strong room.”