Bajpe police arrested five persons, including four baggage handlers working with Air India SATS, for allegedly stealing gold jewellery from a passenger’s baggage at Mangaluru International Airport on August 30.
The accused have been identified as:
Nithin (Kandavara)
Sadananda (Mooduperara)
Rajesh (Mooduperara)
Praveen Fernandes (Bajpe)
Raviraj (Mooduperara) – buyer of stolen property
According to City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH, a woman passenger flying from Bengaluru to Mangaluru discovered that 56 grams of gold jewellery, worth around Rs4.5 lakh, had been stolen from her luggage after collecting it at the airport’s baggage belt.
Following her complaint, Bajpe Police registered a case under Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched an investigation.
Police interrogated the four airport loaders/unloaders who confessed to the crime. They admitted to stealing the gold from the passenger’s bag and selling it to Raviraj, who was arrested under Section 317(2) BNS for receiving stolen property.
A 50g gold ingot, worth approximately Rs5 lakh, was recovered from the accused.
Further investigation revealed that the same group had stolen Rs2 lakh in cash from another passenger, Manohar Shetty, in January 2025. That case was also registered at Bajpe police station.
The accused, employed by Air India SATS for over nine years, reportedly targeted bags containing valuables, sometimes using easily guessable numeric lock codes to access them.
All five have been produced before the court. Police have urged passengers to remain vigilant and avoid placing valuables in checked-in luggage.
