Here’s another round of bad press for beloved national carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA). One of its cabin crew members was arrested by Indian customs officers on Monday at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport for allegedly smuggling gold.
According to officials, the steward had also reportedly attempted to smuggle gold on Jan 8 in a similar manner, and this was his second attempt, The Hindustan Times noted.
Joint Commissioner of Customs Anubha Singh said that the steward arrived from Singapore at Terminal 3 via flight SQ402. He was stopped for a random check, and eventually confessed his role in the smuggling operation during questioning.
“After intercepting him, we searched him and recovered 1,048 grams of gold from his possession. He was arrested and gold has been seized as per Customs Act,” he added.
The gold — worth about 3.1 million rupees (S$64,000) — was in the form of a bangle and a chain, which the accused was wearing under his uniform.
Early investigations showed that the man was supposed to hand over the gold to an agent at a prominent hotel in Delhi, in exchange for S$500, The Indian Express reported.
A Singapore Airlines spokesperson confirmed that a member of its cabin crew on flight SQ402 was detained by Delhi customs authorities.
“Singapore Airlines will provide full co-operation to the investigating authorities. We are unable to provide details of the crew member concerned due to confidentiality reasons,” the spokesperson added, revealing to Channel NewsAsia that disciplinary action enforced on the crew member would depend on the outcome of investigations, according to established company guidelines.
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