A PIA passenger has come forward with a distressing report of a theft incident that occurred during a flight earlier this month.
The incident occurred on 5 August during PIA Flight PK-210, en route from Sharjah Airport to Sialkot International Airport. The victim had placed a substantial amount of gold, valued at 93,000 dirhams (), securely within his checked baggage.
However, upon reaching the destination in Sialkot, the passenger was disheartened to discover that the gold, which had been packed in the checked baggage, had gone missing. The passenger has alleged that the theft occurred during the handling of baggage, potentially between the stages of baggage drop-off and loading onto the flight.
The victim also promptly notified relevant authorities, including PIA, Sharjah Airport, and Sharjah Aviation. He took the initiative to communicate the issue to airport officials, with the hope of conducting a thorough internal investigation to identify the responsible parties.
Despite all the efforts, the victim has expressed frustration at the lack of responsiveness from PIA authorities. He disclosed that multiple attempts to engage with PIA through emails and reminders went unanswered, leaving him deeply disappointed with the airline’s handling of the matter.
In the pursuit of justice, the victim has shared a formal complaint with the airline and seeks to involve the expertise of Sialkot police, Customs, ASF, and Civil Aviation Authority in order to conduct a comprehensive and impartial investigation.
PIA’s response
Speaking exclusively with ProPakistani, PIA’s spokesperson said that at the onset there are some grave rules and regulation violations in this case which is making it difficult for the authorities to substantiate the claims.
If the passenger was carrying that much amount of gold, as per procedures it has to be declared to the authorities and to the airline, but it was not done so. Rules also suggest that money and jewelry must not be kept in the check-in baggage.
Additionally, if the hand carry was checked in during boarding, the passenger did not inform the crew that it had gold in it, otherwise, they would not have sent it to the hold or would have asked to take it out and carry it in person.
Upon arrival, the gold was not declared to customs authorities which is against the rules of the country.
The passenger lifted the baggage from the belt and took it home without any hassles which is strange because normal behavior suggests people checking their valuables before taking it home.
The passenger came back after 4 hours claiming that their valuables were missing which makes it nearly impossible to substantiate that gold was indeed in the baggage or that any pilferage happened at airport areas.
It is further reiterated that at both Sharjah and Sialkot, baggage services and boarding/ disembarkation procedures are conducted by local handling agent personnel and not PIA staff.
PIA can lodge the complaint and seek investigation on behalf of the passenger, but that requires proper declarations and tracking.
Because there is no documentation of the items being transported, seeking a claim without any formal paperwork is a difficult proposition.
Who put so much gold in checked in baggage? . You cannot blame PIA for that. Airport services who takes care of luggage can take it easily.
Always remember to put expensive jewellery in non checked in baggage.
It was not checked baggage. It was in hand carry. But officer took it from my brother, my brother told him the truth about bag, and also that he don’t want to submit it. But, he said it will not fit in over head compartment. Air hostess were standing behind that person and they were announcing to hurry so that the can close the door. My brother insisted not to put it in cargo hold but he made sure it will be secured properly.
So he could take his gold with him and letting the bag to go with checked baggage.
All points in PIA’s response are perfectly valid.
Serves him right for trying to smuggle in so much gold without declaring to customs. Assuming he had gold in the first place.
He never declared the gold on any stage , so offcourse he is lying
My son wile going to Canada from islamabad airport 2 or 3 years ago was deprived of 2000$ at airport,I didn’t lodge complaint coz I knew the result will be zero,they are all professional thieves,it will be a pleasure to see it privatised and all pakis kicked off
PIA Clarification is appropriate and very candid as per rules of all the airlines and airport / custome authorities.
He tried to save customs duty and taxes. But instead lost all the valuables.
If he tried to avoid tax or custom duty it doesn’t mean that he should be deprived of his VALUABLES. PIA crew record has always been questionable when it comes drug trafficking and smuggling.
We showed our Jewelry at Vat counter at sharjah airport and received the receipt.
When we were about to enter in the plane, the officer took hand carry from my brother by saying that it will not fit in the over head counter. My brother told him that this bag have valuable items init. The officer said “Sir, we will tag it keep it secure, it’s our responsibility. You will get your Bag at sialkot airport.”
He didn’t asked us to remove jewelry from it, or fill any kind of form. And My brother was traveling with his wife and four kids. As per rules Per person can travel with 10,000$ worth of cash or Gold without declaring. According to this, we were well within legal limits.
PIA now lying to cover the theft, because they all benefitted from it. According to a representative i will not name him. He told us this is 4th case in last few months. Passengers came with serious complains of theft from their luggages. They All took PIA flights to sialkot.
And just google you will find that this is common practice now for PIA to steal valuables from passenger luggage. Air hostess were caught red-handed and at one occasion 5 PIA officals were caught stealing from bags during flight.
For a moment, lets say that much jewellery was illegal to bring, then how we passed through Sialkot security scanner? Why didn’t they confiscated our gold? If it was illegal confiscate it not steal it from passenger luggage.
And we didn’t tried to save any tax etc، that gold was meant for my sisters. They are getting married next month.
From last 3 weeks i tried everything to lodge a complaint with police. But, all efforts were in vain. I have no where to go.
Legal or not legal. Declared or not. Whatever just tell me where the gold went with boxes? Who stole it Arab people or pakistani officals?
I will curse PIA for the rest of my life.
PIA authority is right in this if the passenger hold that amount of gold must inform the both authority sharjah and Pakistan so he can claim but passenger lost that amount of gold so authority must help him to find his gold
BTW how much gold you take with you from other countries when you reach here?
یہ سارہ معاملہ جھوٹ پر مشتمل ہے جب کسی کے ساتھ اتنا سونا ھو کیا وہ اپنا سامان چیک کئے بغیر کیسا اپنے گھر جا سکتے ھیں
However flight is responsible for passengers luggage or handbag not person responsible for that they should investigate and find the accused not give explanation to passengers
This is totally nonsense, don’t accused national flag carrier.
First of all 93k AED not a less amount.
How you allowed even to take taht worth and keep it in baggage?
This is not the first case it is very normal thing there are lot of same cases with pia and in dubai sharjah there are diffrent companies for loading and unloading but in pakistan there is pia staff for loading and unloading they are 100% thief