I will teach you how to take smuggled gold out of the airport safely,” a ground team supervisor allegedly told his team leader before handing over the contraband. However, the plan collapsed within minutes as officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted a raid at the Mumbai airport. In a moment of panic, the team leader — part of the third-party cleaning staff — allegedly sprinted up the aerobridge staircase and threw the smuggled gold in a desperate attempt to escape detection. Both men, employed with a leading ground-handling service provider, were later arrested by the DRI, officials said.

According to DRI sources, the accused have been identified as Shankar Patil, 51, a resident of Navghar, in Bhayandar West, and Sunil Verma, 30, a resident of Bhayandar East. The agency recovered 1.2 kg of gold dust in wax form, valued at around Rs 1.6 crore, from the aerobridge staircase attached to Vector 23 at the Mumbai airport.