Constable M. Gemya Naik, 37 and Home Guard Bandari Lingaiah, 36, Geedhara Harish Kumar Reddy, 24 and Potluri Raghavendra Rao, 36, along with the seized liquor bottles on Friday.
Four people, including a constable and home guard working at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), were arrested in connection with illicit trade of duty-free liquor from the airport on Friday.
Officials from the Shamshabad District Task Force (DTF) seized liquor worth ₹15 lakh, which include 41 duty-free bottles.
According to the police, constable M. Gemya Naik, 37 and home guard Bandari Lingaiah, 36 were the sources. Geedhara Harish Kumar Reddy, 24, a software engineer, and Potluri Raghavendra Rao, 36, manager at Art Boutique Hotel, were the peddlers.
Efforts are underway to nab Maheshwar who worked at the billing counter in the duty-free shop.
Following a tip-off, the DTF officials on Friday stopped Naik’s car when he arrived at the Shamshabad ORR exit to hand over four bottles to Harish Kumar. On searching his car, the officials found six Hyderabad duty-free and four Defence liquor bottles. Further questioning led to another eight bottles in Raghavendra Rao’s vehicle. The officials also apprehended Bandari Lingaiah at Aramgarh X Roads in Rajendranagar and found another 25 bottles.
Investigation revealed that while M. Gemya Naik has been working at the RGIA police outpost for the past two-and-a-half years, while Bandari Lingaiah has been in service for about five years. They were involved in the protocol duties to receive VIP passengers at international arrivals when they got acquainted with Mahender.
According to the Excise police, the duo sourced duty-free bottles from Indian passengers travelling internationally using their passports and boarding passes. “The duo purchased the bottles on the name of arriving passengers and sold them to event managers and known people in the city and made significant profits,” an official from the Shamshabad DTF said.
The accused were handed over to Shamshabad police. The three cars involved in the crime were also seized.
Published – December 27, 2024 08:42 pm IST
