'Missing suitcase' noticed from passenger's phone image: Customs

Commissioner of Customs Abdulla Shareef said on Thursday that a suitcase allegedly containing drugs was that had supposedly gone missing at the airport was noticed after a photograph was found on the passenger's mobile phone and it was not a case of negligence at all.

Last month, police launched an investigation into the disappearance of two luggages believed to be drugs from Velana International Airport (VIA) in connection with an alleged attempt to smuggle drugs into the Maldives by air on two dates. Thus:

In a programme aired on Raajje TVon Thursday morning, Customs chief Abdulla Shareef spoke about the disappearance of a box weighing 30 kg.

Abdullah Shareef said that depending on the country from which the passenger is coming and the country of origin, sometimes the customs randomly conduct searches and interviews the person. It was decided that the Pakistani would be randomly questioned in the same manner, he said.

"It was the rush hour at the airport. After landing, his information was shared [with customs departments], while the officers were doing it, the passenger was seen checking his hand luggage with x-ray machine and going out," said Abdullah Shareef.

"When he headed out, an officer stopped him and took him into our red channel. Knowing who he was [the passenger who made the selection for random checking].”

Even when he was spotted, he was "not carrying any other luggage" other than hand luggage, Abdullah Shareef said.

"Then during the check, if we suspect it, we will check someone's phone and stuff. When we searched his phone, we saw a picture on [the Pakistani man's] phone, with the luggage he had checked-in with," said Abdullah Shareef.

When Customs discovered the picture and questioned him, he had replied that he did not bring the luggage, Abdullah Shareef said.

"Even if he said otherwise, we didn't want to stop from there. From there we checked the tag of the luggage [found in the photo] and started checking if the luggage was inside the airport terminal," said Abdullah Shareef.

"We checked, and we couldn't locate it when all the luggage on the entire flight ran out."

According to him:

"That is, there is a possibility that no one saw the luggage or took the luggage, it could be someone else who travelled with him or someone else we don't know of," he said. 

Later, the man was handed over to the police and the agency decided to investigate, he said. However, when the police could not find anything more about him, they had let him go, said Abdullah Shareef.

"Even if you say a 30-kg suitcase, a 30-kg suitcase does not mean it has 30 kg of drugs in it. How can you say 30 kg [of drugs], and how can you say that something that is not there is missing?" he asked when some newspapers reported that a 30-kg drug box had been recovered.

"The suitcase [of 30 kg] was checked. The tag was also there. Our point is that from the terminal, I am sure he could not have left with that luggage," said Abdullah Shareef.

Asked by theRaajje TV presenter how the suitcase was suspected to contain drugs, Abdulla Shareef replied:

"Maybe there's a chance. No matter how much we check, there are chances and there may be instances where nothing could be seen on a busy day at the airport, especially. But I'm 100% sure that once we discover drugs in a luggage we will not lose it. God willing, that would not happen," he said.

Soon after the incident came to light, the police had shared a message with the media on January 17, stating that when the Pakistani man arrived, he had brought a 30-kg luggage and informed the police that he did not know the person who had taken the luggage. Without any further evidence, they had decided to release him.