Stolen goods: PIA officials accused of theft from passengers’ luggage

PIA district manager says guard from private security company responsible.

BAHAWALPUR:

A gang comprising several Shaikh Zayad bin Rashid Terminal (Bahawalpur Airport) and Pakistan International Airlines officials, accused of stealing valuables from the passengers’ luggage for over a year, was busted here on Thursday. The Federal Investigation Agency has started looking for suspects accused of being complicit in the thievery, The Express Tribune has learnt. 

Police said over the past year and a half, many PIA passengers had lodged complaints with the Bahawalpur PIA office about items stolen from their luggage. Items worth millions of rupees including watches, cell phones, laptops and jewellery had been reported missing from the passengers’ luggage. The office would tell them the items were probably stolen at the Lahore or Multan terminals, police said.

Last week, a man’s cell phone went missing from his luggage at the terminal. He contacted the FIA that then traced the active cell phone to Muhammad Asim, a security guard at the PIA office. Asim was locked up at Baghdadul Jadeed police station on Wednesday.

Police said Asim, during custody, confessed to stealing and named another airport security guard and a loader as being complicit in the theft. Asim also named the airport officer and the ticketing officer as leaders of the gang, police said.

Police have recovered expensive cell phones, watches and other items from Asim. Police said PIA District Manager Khawaja Mushtaq brought the airport officer and the ticketing officer to the police station to strike a deal. However, Baghdadul Jadeed SHO Shafqat Atta, however, refused.

Police said there were no flights to Bahawalpur at night which is why the PIA office was closed at 8pm. However, the accused officials, along with the station manager, would regularly stay back till late.

District Manager Mushtaq told The Express Tribune that Asim had been contracted as a guard from a private security company. He was responsible for the theft and was arrested for it. The accusations against PIA officials were completely baseless, he said.

Yazman Amanat Ali, a citizen, said, “Items worth Rs250,000 were stolen from my luggage last month but the PIA office gave me Rs5,000 as compensation.” The FIA must conduct a thorough investigation because the airport officials have not only stolen items worth millions of rupees but have compromised the credibility of Pakistan’s national carrier.

Humayun, another citizen, said items worth at least Rs200,000 were stolen from his brother-in-law’s luggage, however no compensation was paid to him.

Muhammad Israr, a resident of Shahbaz Town, said “Items worth Rs150,000 were stolen from my bags and the PIA did not give me a single rupee as compensation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2013.