Mafia and Mufti

The Customs Act specifically prohibits the police from seizing gold. So why are the Malappuram police’s special teams so busy tracking down smugglers? Perhaps the NIA should look into it.

Last Sunday started out as a dull, boring day but soon the entire state was glued to the television and mobile phones after ruling party MP PV Anvar made shocking revelations about an unholy alliance between senior police officers and gold smugglers operating out of Kozhikode airport.

He accused Sujith Das, former SP of Malappuram, of deploying a team of policemen to seize illegal gold from smugglers arriving at the airport (geographically based in Malappuram), when such seizures fall outside the jurisdiction of the state police.

Anvar released an audio clip, purportedly of Sujith Das, in which Das claims that ADGP (law and order) MR Ajith Kumar is involved in the gold smuggling.

The unusually high gold seizures by the police, corroborated by customs, suggest that Anvar’s claims may be credible. Malappuram police seized nearly 100 kg of gold worth over Rs 50 crore in 110 smuggling cases in a year, all reportedly based on “secret information” from the district police chief.

In all these cases, police were able to arrest the smugglers after they evaded customs and were able to leave the airport grounds.

In February 2023, a Kondotty resident approached a customs official at Kozhikode airport and offered to reveal the identity of a passenger who had arrived from Dubai with a large quantity of smuggled gold.

To the surprise of the official, the informant refused to accept the standard reward of Rs 1.5 lakh per kg of seized gold. Instead, he demanded Rs 2 lakh per kg.

When the officer refused, citing government regulations, the informant claimed he had received a better offer from the police and would only provide the information if his conditions were met.

The next day, based on the informant’s tip, the agents seized a large part of the loot and rewarded the informant with an amount of Rs 200,000 per kilo.

Although it may seem simple, the matter is not as simple as it seems. It is unclear where the police get the money to reward informants. After all, there is no provision that allows the state police to reward informants, except for the meager resources of the secret service, which is not able to provide such substantial rewards.

“The Customs has a provision to pay Rs 1,500 per 10 grams of seized gold. The police have no power to seize gold as it falls under the domain of Customs under the Customs Act, which also has detailed provisions for search, seizure and subsequent formalities,” a senior Indian Revenue Service official said on condition of anonymity.

While Karipur airport is the main hub, and Kannur has recently joined it, police have also seized gold outside other airports in the state.

According to a police report, they seized a whopping 178,331 kg of gold between May 2016 and July 2020, which was seized when the smugglers “inadvertently turned up during a routine check” or when the smugglers tried to settle scores between them and tipped off the police. “The police then seize the gold and cash under Section 102 of CrPC and register the same. The gold or cash is then handed over to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence or similar other central agencies,” a senior police officer said.

However, customs has a different version. “They have no authority to do so and they do not follow the procedures. Once there are procedural lapses, it is very easy for the suspect to win the case in court. Apart from what the police say about the quantity of gold, there is no indication of the actual quantity of gold seized,” said a senior customs official.

If the police have credible information, it is usually forwarded to the customs or DRI for a legally valid seizure. Once the gold has legally entered Indian territory and passed through the customs checkpoint, there is no legal enforcement mechanism to differentiate between smuggled and local gold. If the person in possession of the gold can prove a legal source and reason, it cannot be called smuggled gold in any way.

However, in Karipur, police have seized gold from vehicles travelling outside and much further from the airport.
Several senior police officials admit that gold smuggling is not possible without the complicity of police officers on the ground. “The smuggling is not limited to just crossing the airport.

The smuggling chain then extends across a wide network of roads, even beyond state borders, before reaching their destination. They also have their method of testing policemen to determine whether they are pliable and whether they can be of benefit to them when they first meet them in the name of a courtesy call. If there was no close bond with policemen, the smuggling chain would not have been smooth,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Local police supported the fight against smuggling and human trafficking at airports and were replaced by IB personnel who manned the immigration process at all international airports in the state.

Many of the replaced police officers had questionable track records, including links to smuggling, often due to political appointments. Intelligence reports indicate that Koduvally in Kozhikode is a major hub for gold smuggling and hawala transactions, with an estimated annual volume of 100 kg of gold and Rs 1 billion worth of hawala transactions.

According to the Union finance ministry, there were 4,258 registered cases of gold seizures (2,772 kg, Rs 983 crore) in Kerala between 2016-17 and 2021-22. This suggests the scale of gold smuggling in the state and the potential financial gain for corrupt police officers involved in helping smugglers, a senior intelligence official said.

Kerala has been obsessed with gold smuggling and its related controversies since July 2020, when the Chief Minister’s Office was rocked by allegations of complicity in using diplomatic channels for gold smuggling.

What is surprising, however, is that this time the whistleblower is a CPM-backed MLA who is seen as close to the CM himself. Even more worrying is that despite serious allegations, the CM has not even bothered to remove Ajith Kumar from his post from where he could still control the entire law and order situation in the state, at least until he is cleared of the charges against him, thereby reducing the ordered probe to a mere eyewash.

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