Two arrested for theft of gemstones from aircraft cargo hold
Two employees of a manpower company engaged in loading and unloading of baggage for an airline, who had stolen 14 gemstones that were to be taken from Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) premises to Sydney, Australia, on April 26 via air, were arrested by the police on May 12.
The items that were stolen had been among the high-speed airmail bags to be delivered to Sydney, Australia, by the Colombo Central Mail Exchange.
The theft had been carried out inside the aircraft while the cargo was being loaded onto a flight to Sydney.
The gemstones had been in a special mail bag. The gemstones had been packed inside a box in the mail bag. The police said that the seals of the mail bag had been carefully broken and the 14 gemstones stolen.
The Australia-based businessman who was supposed to receive the gemstones has also complained to the Australian Federal Police that he did not receive the parcel, the Police Media Spokesman’s Office said. The Australian Federal Police has also made inquiries about this from the relevant airline.
Accordingly, the BIA Police too had received a complaint regarding this theft.
The police said that these gemstones had been sent by a Ragama-based gem businessman to his businessman friend in Sydney. The Gem and Jewellery Authority has assessed the value of these 14 gemstones as Rs. 776,642.78.
According to the police, in order to prevent such thefts, mobile security cameras are also installed in the aircraft during the loading of goods. Scanning of the security camera footage showed that the theft had been carried out without being caught by those cameras.
However, when the police carefully examined the security camera footage, they had noticed that one of the employees was standing in such a way that the security camera was blocked and some suspicion had arisen about the behaviour of the other employee as well.
Information about the theft had been revealed when this employee was identified and taken into custody by the police and questioned. Investigations have also revealed that the employee who was standing so as to block the view of the security cameras had helped him to steal the gems from the post office mail bag. Accordingly, both of them have been arrested by the police.
These two suspects, who have been working for this manpower company for a long time, are residents of Tholangamuwa and Hasalaka. The police have also recovered the 14 gemstones that were stolen from these suspects, aged 23 and 25.
The police said that the suspects had sold six of those gemstones to a gem businessman in Kiriella for Rs. 80,000 and the rest of the stones were found in the possession of the suspects. The police discovered 66 more gemstones in the two suspects’ place of accommodation. When questioned, the two suspects had said that they are engaged in the gem business. However, the police believe that these suspects have been engaged in stealing air cargo for a long time.