Smuggling bid by PIA staffers foiled at Peshawar airport

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: Two employees of the Pakistan International Airlines were arrested after the Federal Investigation Agency foiled a gold smuggling bid involving at Bacha Khan International Airport.

FIA’s Commercial Banking Circle in Peshawar seized the gold and detained the suspects in a joint operation conducted in collaboration with the Airport Security Force, spokesperson of the FIA said.

The employees of the national flag carrier who were part of the gold smuggling bid, were identified as Nasir Khan and Shahid Ullah, reports said adding both were taken into custody during the raid. The officials confirmed that the suspects have been sent on a two-day physical remand for further interrogation.

The suspects were posted at Peshawar Airport and are being investigated for facilitating other smuggling operations. According to the reports, officials recovered 7,740 grams of gold from the suspects, which was hidden inside the luggage for illegal export.

Investigations may lead to further arrests of suspects involved in the gold smuggling bid and similar cases, the officials said.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time the staffers of the PIA were apprehended for smuggling bid as on many occasions the employees of the national flag career were arrested even abroad thus bringing bad name to the country.