Saturday, February 9, 2008

"A mafia is active at Delhi airport"

Parul Sharma

NEW DELHI: An Abu Dhabi-based Indian has claimed that jewellery and diamonds worth Rs.2 lakh were stolen from his family’s luggage at Delhi airport when they were on their way to Abu Dhabi this past month.

Parvez Siddiqui has alleged that two necklaces -- one of diamond and the other golden – apart from four sets of ear-rings, two rings and nose-pins were missing from the luggage when his family reached their Abu Dhabi home.

The theft, the family suspects, took place on January 10 when Mr. Siddiqui’s wife Iffat Jahan, his little daughter Lubna, his brother Arshad and their mother Fakhrun Nisa checked in their luggage at Terminal 2 of Indira Gandhi International Airport here to board an Air India flight to Abu Dhabi.

“I strongly suspect that our baggage was burgled after check-in at the airport. Someone must have detected the presence of jewellery when the luggage was being screened and tipp! ed off the others. When my family reached home, we were shocked to see that only one of the four bags – the one that was carrying the valuables -- was broken,” said Mr. Siddiqui from Abu Dhabi.

“The case carrying the jewellery was also broken and an unidentified cloth had been shoved inside the luggage. It seems to me that a mafia is active at Delhi airport,” he alleged.

A distraught Mr. Siddiqui contacted the Air India office in Abu Dhabi who asked him to get in touch with officials in Delhi.

“I have sent e-mails and faxes to everyone, right from officials in the Union Civil Aviation Ministry in New Delhi to the Airports Authority of India to Delhi International Airport (Private) Limited and Air India. I also wrote to Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. A senior DIAL official responded to me asking me to take up the matter with Air India General Manager B. Chaturvedi,” he said. In response to his frantic miss! ives, Mr. Siddiqui received an e-mail from Air India Assistant! General Manager S. T. Norbula on behalf of Mr. Chaturvedi stating that the airline had not been able to trace the alleged missing items. Drawing his attention to the notice of “Baggage liability limitation -- Items unacceptable as baggage”, Mr. Norbula said: “The notice printed on the ticket jacket says ‘The passenger shall not include in checked baggage fragile or perishable items, money, jewellery, precious metals, silverware, negotiable papers, securities or other valuables, business documents, passport and other identification documents or samples. Notwithstanding this, we regret the unfortunate incident.”

When contacted, Mr. Norbula refused to comment.

“I have flown so many times with different international airlines but something like this has never happened before. No one seems to be interested in helping us out,” rued Mr. Siddiqui.

By: Terri Toon

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Terri is a fulltime stay at home mother who writes and mystery shops on the side. She has just finished an eBook called "Mystery Shopping Madness" which is on her website. For more legitimate income opportunities you can visit her website at:www.momsmoneymaker-website.com


Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/10/stories/2008021057090100.htm
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