7,450 Quran copies missing from consignment, suspects Customs

Meanwhile, the Customs has collected details about the UAE firm that published the Quran donated by the consulate.
Quran (Photo | EPS)
Quran (Photo | EPS)

KOCHI: The controversy over the possible protocol violation by Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel in receiving food kits and the Holy Quran from the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram took a new turn after sources in the Customs, which is probing the incident, said they suspect 7,450 copies of the holy book may be missing from the consignment that had arrived in March.

The Customs reached this conclusion based on the weight of the consignment imported by the UAE Consulate, Thiruvananthapuram, in March this year. Customs officers told TNIE that the baggage that arrived on March 4, which was addressed to the consul-general, weighed around 4,478kg, as per the information it accessed from the Customs Cargo of the Trivandrum International Airport.

Given 250 packets had arrived, the Customs came to the conclusion that each packet should contain 31 copies as one Quran weighed around 567 grams. One packet should weigh 17.912kg. In that case, a total of 7,750 copies of the Quran were imported. 

According to Customs sources, of the 250 packets, only 32 were supplied to the Kerala State Centre for Advanced Printing & Institute (C-APT), a printing and training institute, in Thiruvananthapuram, from where the copies were distributed to various places in Kerala. Jaleel had said he received around 300 copies of the Quran from the UAE Consulate and was ready to return the copies.

“We took one copy of the Quran to weigh it. Copies of the same Quran edition were inside the packet we checked. So, we suspect there were more copies of the Quran, which were either given to Minister Jaleel or are still at the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. We have to check whether the copies of the Quran were distributed by the consulate via any religious and charitable organisations,” an official said.

Meanwhile, the Customs has collected details about the UAE firm that published the Quran donated by the consulate. “We are trying to get in touch with the publisher. An investigation in the UAE will help us get more details,” the official said.

Immediately after the controversy erupted over the telephone call of an accused with Jaleel, he had shared his WhatsApp chat details with a diplomat in the UAE Consulate. In the chat, the diplomat claimed that the consulate wanted to donate food items and copies of the Quran. However, the Opposition, including UDF and BJP, claimed that the minister violated the protocol and gold was smuggled in the name of Quran imports.

Joining the dots

Customs officers told TNIE that the baggage that arrived on March 4, which was addressed to the consul-general, weighed around 4,478kg, as per the information it accessed from the Customs Cargo of the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

Given 250 packets had arrived, the Customs came to the conclusion that each packet should contain 31 copies as one Quran weighed around 567 grams. One packet should weigh 17.912kg. In that case, a total of 7,750 copies of the Quran were imported. 

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