Chennai airport gold smuggling racket: BJP link emerges? | News Minute Tamil

The owner of the company that rents out space for shops at Chennai airport is reportedly under the Customs department scanner over a gold smuggling racket. GA Prithvi, the Managing Director of Vidvedaa PRG, which owns the rights to renting out space for shops at the Chennai International Airport, is a former state executive member of the Tamil Nadu BJP Youth Wing and is believed to be close to several top BJP leaders both in Tamil Nadu and in Delhi. Prithvi rented out space inside the airport’s transit area to Sabir Ali, the main accused in the gold smuggling case to run the Airhub shop from February 2024. This was despite the fact that Sabir, a Chennai-based YouTuber, did not have any prior experience in running such a shop. Though GA Prithvi has denied any link to this smuggling racket, troubling questions have emerged as to how a Sri Lankan syndicate was operating out of a high security zone inside Chennai Airport since February 2024. The New Indian Express Special Correspondent Siddharth Prabhakar speaks to TNM’s Shabbir Ahmed on the Modus Operandi employed by the smugglers.