KOCHI: The death of expatriate Abdul Jaleel, of Agaly, Palakkad, after he was allegedly kidnapped from Kochi airport by gold smugglers has exposed how Keralites, who work in the Gulf, get lured into becoming carriers for smugglers without knowing the risks that come with it. With back-to-back incidents of carriers getting kidnapped on their arrival at airports, enforcement agencies say it happens when the carrier either tries to outsmart the racket or an insider in the racket passes on their details to another racket to take away the gold by threatening or offering a lucrative deal.
According to officials of Kerala Police, Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Abdul Jaleel’s case is not a one-off incident as there were similar cases in which NRKs, who fly from the Middle East to Kerala, had to confront gold smuggling rackets. “Many become carriers for easy money without knowing the risks involved. Only a few cases of torture of carriers at the hands of smuggling rackets come out while in majority of cases, the victim does not dare to speak out fearing trouble both from police and racket,” said a senior customs officer.
As per an assessment of Customs and DRI, a passenger aircraft landing at an airport in Kerala from the Middle East will have at least 10 carriers deployed by gold smuggling rackets. “There is a strong network of agents who identify passengers who are willing to carry gold. Once a carrier is selected, his or her photo is taken on mobile phones and passed on to the specified handler at the airport where the carrier arrives,” said an officer.
Ernakulam rural SP K Karthick, who coordinated a probe into the incident in which an air passenger who reached Kochi airport was kidnapped by a racket in April 2021, said gold smuggling rackets are always on the lookout for carriers who reach the airport with gold. “They wait for the carriers based on the details provided by their handlers in Gulf countries. In the particular case, the racket members kidnapped the passenger identified as Thaju Thomas on mistaken identity. We conducted a detailed probe and arrested the racket members involved in it,” he said.
OPERATIONS BEHIND GOLD CARRIERS
Once the racket identifies a prospective carrier, he or she is offered a particular amount to carry gold and deliver it to the person concerned after completing all clearances and coming out of the airport.
Carriers are not provided with the details of the person who would be approaching them at the airport for collecting the gold. Rackets do this to avoid the risk of their local handlers being caught if the carrier is nabbed.
The photo and flight details of the carrier are shared with local handler to ensure that the carrier can be identified at the airport
Things go awry when the carrier takes a different flight and attempts to fix a deal on their own with another racket for a higher amount. Carriers, who take a different flight, also change their appearance to deceive local handlers. In such incidents, rackets assign quotation gangs to trace the carrier and retrieve gold or money equivalent to the gold.
Moles within the racket who assign carriers, leak information about the carriers to third parties who in turn approach the carriers as handlers assigned by the racket. The carrier lands in trouble with the racket that actually assigned him in these kind of situations.