Mumbai Police arrest UAE worker for Rs 2.5 lakh airport bag theft

Mumbai: Sahar police arrested Sharffuddin C (40) from a hotel in Masjid on Oct 27, three days after booking him for allegedly stealing a bag worth Rs 2.5 lakh at Mumbai International Airport. CCTV footage showed him picking up the bag from a conveyor belt and tampering with its seal, police said. Investigators tracked him through the mobile number he submitted while booking a cab with a tourist operator at the airport.

The bag, belonging to a Bandra-based businessman’s family returning from Madrid and a cruise, contained a woman’s jacket, hairdryer, perfume and medals won during the cruise. “Sharffuddin, a graduate from Kerala’s Kasargod district employed by an oil company in the UAE, had arrived in Mumbai on Oct 24 and was due to fly to the UAE on Oct 28 to resume work. He denied intending to steal the bag,” said a Sahar police officer.

The complainant, the businessman’s wife, approached the Sahar police after a Mumbai woman filed a complaint at Sahar Police Station on Oct 23 after going through the CCTV at the airport and failing to locate the bag. In the FIR, the 44-year-old homemaker from Pali Hill said: “I had travelled with my husband, son and daughter from Madrid to Mumbai via Dubai after a holiday in Spain.