What lies at the centre of the confrontation between Left MLA P V Anvar and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is gold. When Anvar unleashed an unprecedented broadside on Pinarayi Vijayan last Thursday, of all the things he said on political and personal fronts, his claims on gold smuggling deserve serious scrutiny. The rest may be passed off as utterances of a frustrated politician who was repeatedly snubbed by the CPI(M) and the CM. Anvar alleged the involvement of some police officers in a gold smuggling-and-seizure racket and that they enjoyed the blessings of a few in the CPI(M)’s power circle. Since the home department is handled by the CM himself, the charge was indirectly laid at Vijayan’s door.
There has indeed been a significant increase in the seizure of smuggled gold by the state’s police, though technically it’s the customs department’s job to deal with cases of international smuggling. The official figures show that nearly 146 kg of gold was seized and 185 cases of smuggling registered by the police since 2022. In comparison, in two years before that, the police had seized only about a kg of gold in three cases. The charge is that there is an arrangement worked out with some customs personnel who let smuggled gold pass through airport checks, but then tip off cops. Police teams swoop down on the carriers once they are out of the airport and seize the gold; the allegation is also that only a small portion of the haul makes it to official records. If this is indeed what has been happening, the amount of gold pocketed by the racket could be significant.
Gold smuggling is not just about tax evasion—it’s also about feeding the parallel economy; it’s closely linked to informal money transfer systems such as hawala and other forms of money laundering. Official figures show a difference of about 300 tonnes between the domestic consumption of gold in India and its imports. This difference is made up through smuggling and, according to officials, Kerala contributes a big chunk. The charge is serious and a case fit for urgent intervention by central agencies. There must be a thorough investigation to bring out the truth, punish the culprits, and put an end to the practice that is undermining the country’s economy.