Bhubaneswar: A 40-year-old NRI, who lives in Ghana, lodged a complaint with police that valuables worth lakhs and passports of his family members had been stolen from Biju Patnaik International Airport here on Saturday evening.

The NRI, Neeraj Chandan, and his family members had reached the city on Saturday from New Delhi to visit the Jagannath temple in Puri.

Before leaving for the national capital on Tuesday, he spoke to reporters and requested the police to retrieve his valuables.

"We checked out of airport and the bag containing the valuables was on the trolley. A friend had come to receive us and while we were exchanging greetings, an unidentified person decamped with the bag. The bag contained four passports, two iPhones, 3,000 US dollars and a non-citizen card of Ghana," said Chandan, who works as a charted accountant in Ghana.

The victim later informed the airport security personnel and Airfield police station about the theft.

"The police had insisted me to write that our valuables had been misplaced. Without the passports I will not be able to fly back to Ghana. I urge the police to help me and recover the passports," the NRI said.

Airport authorities said shortly after the incident was reported to them, the victim was allowed to go through the footage of CCTVs installed at the airport.

"We will fully cooperate with the police in the investigation process," said airport director S.C Hota.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said they had started an investigation after registering a case.

"We went though the footage of a number of CCTVs and have zeroed in on one suspect. We are trying to identify the thief," said Sahoo.

The incident has emerged as an embarrassment for the city airport that has registered a 39.4 per cent growth in passenger traffic in 2017-18 compared to 2016-17.