Mangaluru: Two employees of Spicejet working at Mangalore International Airport who were arrested on July 15 for being a part of the conspiracy and helping smugglers in retrieving gold biscuits from aircraft upon its landing at Mangaluru have been suspended.

The suspended are Mohammed Haneef from city (senior CSE, Airport Services) and Muddayya from Kodagu (Security Officer).

Acting on credible information that gold bars of foreign origin were being smuggled into the country by way of concealing them under the seat of a Spicejet aircraft, the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Mangaluru, intercepted the concerned aircraft on its arrival to Mangalore International Airport on July 15. After thorough examination, they were able to retrieve and seize 22 pieces of gold biscuits, totally weighing 2566.050 grams. The total value of the gold under seizure is placed at Rs.75,26,225.

The now suspended employees were passing on advance information to the smugglers regarding the itinerary of the aircraft. They confessed their guilt on interrogation and admitted that they were doing it for the lure of hefty money offered by the smugglers and have already done it on six occasions earlier.