KOCHI: For two years, Cochin International Airport (CIAL) remained largely off the radar of gold smugglers. Hawk-eyed vigil of Customs officers forced them to seek safer alternatives. Now, it has once again become a conduit for those sneaking in the yellow metal. According to a senior Customs officer in CIAL, as much as 19 kg gold was seized between January and May this year. This was not a big haul considering the gold flow between 2012 and 2014.
There was a decline in smuggling cases in the past two years after Customs officers tightened the noose. “Now, the flow seems to be gaining strength if the hauls in the first five months of this year are any indication,” he told The Sunday Standard.
Though smuggling has resumed, there is no innovation as far as the techniques are concerned. Last week, the Customs busted two gold smuggling attempts through CIAL.
In the first case, the carrier converted the contraband into crude gold granules and concealed them in the upper portion of 10 perfume bottles in his check-in baggage, said the officer.
In the second case, Air Intelligence Unit officers confiscated seven pieces of crude gold wires weighing 1.166 kg from a passenger arriving from Dubai last week. The wires, cleverly concealed as silver-coloured beadings inside the central frame of a trolley bag, were seized from a certain Mujeeb Parambattu of Kozhikode.
He arrived on an Indigo flight early morning, said Additional Commissioner S Anilkumar.
He was trying to exit without declaring the contraband worth `34 lakh in the open market.
Assistant Commissioners K P Sivadas, E V Sivaraman and Romy N Pynadan and Superintendents R Latha, T K Sreesh, G N Lakshminarayanan, K P Majeed, K Sreekumar and others took part in the raid. Earlier this year, Customs officials imposed a fine of `90 crore on 54 people who are accused in notorious gold smuggling through Cochin International Airport from Dubai.
There were 56 accused in the case and later two were dropped from the proceedings since there were no evidence against them.There was a time when smugglers used to adopt innovative ways to conceal the precious metal as part of their cat and mouse game with the Customs authorities. But these techniques have been tested and done to death by racketeers, said the officer. They included hiding gold in flight toilets, under the seat cover in the aircraft and even in the rectum.
“Gold also used to be moulded into various forms to fit into electronic gadgets. It was also shaped into suitcase handles and beadings,” he said.Of late, smugglers have almost stopped employing full-time carriers as officers keep a tab on frequent travellers. In the latest incident, a labourer travelling from Dubai to Kozhikode to visit his ailing mother was lured by racketeers with an airline ticket. He fell for the trap as the ticket rates to Kerala had doubled ahead of Ramzan. However, he was unaware about the contraband in his baggage, said an officer.
The quantity of gold carried by transporters has also dropped drastically considering the risk involved in employing novices. While up to 4 kg used to be smuggled at one go earlier, it has now come down to 1 kg, said officers. Besides, the profit of smuggling 1 kg gold from abroad has come down to `1.5 lakh from `2 lakh in the wake of fluctuating prices of the metal in the international and domestic markets, they said.