A female Pakistan International Airlines flight attendant, who was caught smuggling foreign currency at the international airport here in Punjab province, has been sent on judicial remand.
Customs officials, who produced the suspect before a magistrate on Saturday, sought her custody after she was detained on Friday following the recovery of a large amount of Saudi riyals in her socks during a body search, Dawn News reported on Monday.
A video of the cabin crew member taking out the currency notes has also gone viral on social media. An FIR was registered against the flight attendant on the complaint of Customs officials who stopped the suspect while boarding PIA’s flight PK 203 from Lahore to Dubai.
Raja Bilal Naseem, the Customs deputy collector at Allama Iqbal International Airport, said 140,000 Saudi Riyals (around 10.4 million rupees) were recovered from her possession during the search. He said customs authorities had intelligence reports of a possible attempt to smuggle currency through this flight.
The suspect has been booked under Section 139 of The Customs Act, 1969, which states that any passenger or crew member attempting to take out currency, gold, precious metals or stones by concealing them in baggage to avoid Customs will be charged with offences of smuggling. A PIA spokesman said the air hostess would be terminated immediately if convicted.
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