Customs officers to investigate gold

25 March 2011 12:12 pm Views - 5707

Two senior customs officers have been appointed by the Director General of Customs Sudharma Karunaratne to investigate the disappearance of gold worth around Rs.60 million from a vault in the Cargo Terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

A senior customs officer said that the investigations have been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Gold slabs worth more than Rs.50 million, imported by a jeweler at Sea Street in Colombo, have gone missing from the air cargo village of the Bandaranaike International Airport.

It is believe that the group of suspects with help from some employees had broken into a storeroom and stolen the gold on Wednesday, he said.

Cargo village staff that took over duties next day found the slabs weighing more than seven kilos, missing.

Customs officers at the Cargo Terminal have been receiving complaints regarding organized thefts of valuable goods from the cargo village and from passengers at the airport for some time.

“This is probably the largest robbery that took place in the terminal that was detected by the customs”, he added.

The Customs officers are currently investigating into the incident to arrest the suspects and their associates and hinted that the figure of the robbed gold might rise in the future. (Supun Dias)