The Airport Police are flummoxed by the disappearance of a consignment containing gold jewellery worth Rs 1.44 crore from the Chhatrapati Shivaji domestic airport. The consignment was being brought to Mumbai from Hyderabad on an Air India flight on December 21. Sources in the Mumbai Police said the consignment was to be delivered to 12 jewellers in Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House. A courier agency had been given the task of transporting the consignment. When an employee of the courier firm went to collect the consignment on December 22,he was informed that no such parcel was there. The police have not ruled out the possibility of a member of the ground staff being involved in the theft. The courier staff told the cargo handlers that there was a parcel for his organisation,but was told there was no such parcel. He went back and reported this to his seniors, said an officer. After learning that the parcel was missing,the owner of the courier company went to the airport to enquire. The owner,Suresh Jain,asked people at the airport and discovered that it had been unloaded in Mumbai. However,it went missing before it was taken to the cargo terminal. He then approached us and we registered a complaint of theft against unknown persons, said the officer. We are speaking to all persons who may have had access to the parcel. We have no leads yet,but are probing all possible angles. We are not ruling out the possibility of someone from the ground staff being involved,but it is too early to speculate on this.
