KQ man found with Sh37m gold awaits justice in India
Mr Teddy Mutuma Muthee, 25, was detained by anti-narcotics detectives at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Mumbai last Saturday. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The gold bars he was carrying are worth an estimated Sh37.7 million and the paper quoted security officials as saying Mr Mutuma was delivering them to a dealer in the Colaba area of Mumbai.
- One of Mr Mutuma’s colleagues at Kenya Airways, with whom they joined the airline in 2013, said there was nothing outrageous about his behaviour.
Kenya Airways employees have described their colleague who was arrested in India last week for allegedly smuggling gold as reserved.
Mr Teddy Mutuma Muthee, 25, was detained by anti-narcotics detectives at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Mumbai last Saturday. He was allegedly carrying gold bars weighing 7.5 kilogrammes in a car, soon after leaving the hotel.
The Mumbai Mirror reported that officers of the Anti-Narcotics Cell asked him to present a laundry bag he had for inspection but he refused.
He surrendered it when the officers identified themselves and warned him of arrest.
The gold bars he was carrying are worth an estimated Sh37.7 million and the paper quoted security officials as saying Mr Mutuma was delivering them to a dealer in the Colaba area of Mumbai.
Mumbai Mirror journalist Divyesh Singh, who reported about the arrest, told the Sunday Nation that Mr Mutuma faces accusations of breaching a number of sections of India’s smuggling regulations.
“He is presently in custody of Mumbai Customs,” Mr Singh stated in a message. “The charge sheet hasn’t been filed yet, just a First Information Report. The charge sheet will take another 90 days to be filed.”
One of Mr Mutuma’s colleagues at Kenya Airways, with whom they joined the airline in 2013, said there was nothing outrageous about his behaviour.
“He was a fairly reserved guy, not the type to pick a quarrel with colleagues. He was generally a cool guy though he, like most of us, used to drink and smoke,” said the colleague who requested not to be named.
He added that Mr Mutuma lived in Doonholm Phase Eight and that “as far as I know, Teddy was single”.
“I am shocked that he is the guy who was caught with the gold. It is so shocking I can’t believe it,” he said.
DRUG TRAFFICKING
A KQ pilot, who flies across Africa and Asia, described Mr Mutuma as a quiet person and said the young man may have been a victim of smuggling cartels.
“I hear the cartels pay for these people’s training at the KQ training school at Pride Centre then those guys owe them. So they ship the drugs and whatever it is for those sponsors,” the pilot said.
“There is one who was tortured and killed. Seemed like she wanted out and they couldn’t let her.”
Asked how possible it was for a member of the plane crew to smuggle items, the pilot said: “We don’t check each other’s cabin bags. All bags are screened by KAA (Kenya Airports Authority) staff at check-in points. No one cares what others carry. The assumption is that you are carrying your personal effects.”
Responding to Sunday Nation queries on the matter earlier last week, Kenya Airways said it was aware of the matter and “was in touch with the Indian authorities regarding the situation”.
This is not the first time that a KQ employee is being associated with trafficking.
In 2002, the airline sacked 33 workers after they were accused of being involved in drug trafficking. Among them were 29 cabin crew and three crew-scheduling staff.
The April 2002 purge came a few weeks after air hostess Priscillah Jemtai Kologei was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for possessing 27 kilogrammes of heroin, which she had carried in a KQ plane from Mumbai.
She left the Lang’ata Women’s Prison in July last year after serving a 13-year jail term.
