Woman constable dismissed from service after Customs caught her with smuggled gold at airport

According to sources in the Special Branch, on April 23 this year, a foreign member of a gold smuggling syndicate arrived from Bangkok, Thailand, to Mumbai via Air India flight AI-331.

The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs had information about the foreigner. They caught the foreigner and also learned that a woman police staffer is helping the foreigner get the gold out of the airport.

Following this, Chavan was intercepted at the airport itself and was caught red-handed with 685-gram smuggled gold totalling Rs 35.5 lakh.

“She was trying to leave the airport premises before her official duty hours by giving an excuse that her mother was not well,” a police officer said.

The Customs Department prepared a report detailing her involvement in the smuggling racket and nexus with the racket members and sent it to the Mumbai Police.

Acting on the report, Chavan was first suspended pending a departmental inquiry. She was given the opportunity to argue in her defence before the inquiry officer.

However, she could not provide substantial facts justifying her act, and after the charges proved against her in the inquiry, she was dismissed from the police service a few days ago, another officer said.

Her dismissal order was released by the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SB-2, recently.