A Kenya Airways employee was on Tuesday arrested by Indian police in Mumbai for being in possession of 23kg of smuggled gold bars worth more than Sh100 million.
The KQ employee, Abdalla Said, cites the Times of India, had hidden the bars in his waist belt and knee caps before.
Said, 29, was arrested at a five star hotel near the international airport.
He was to hand over the gold bars to his accomplice, 26-year old Ibrahim Hussein.
Indian authorities said the KQ employee arrived in Mumbai on February 11 and had concealed the gold bars like old biscuits. He was later cleared and he was picked up en route to check in at the hotel.
He checked in at 7:30pm and was allowed into the facility at 8pm.
But the hotel’s employees raised alarm after noting weird movements with a foreign national who kept pacing up and down near Said at the hotel.
An officer privy to the case said when they questioned Said on how he managed to get the gold out of the airport, he said, “he had easily cleared the customs check at the airport because airline crew members are not frisked physically. Only their baggage is checked.”
The Times of India further reported that preliminary investigations have revealed that Said was on a three-month visa and had been had been staying at a hotel on Mohammed Ali Road in South Mumbai since January 4.
He had earlier told police he is a clothes dealer and was in Mumbai on official basis.