It is said, near around
27 lakhs needed to purchase 1 kg gold from UAE. If it is smuggled to India
without paying 15% tax (including GST) and if it is sold after transforming it into
ornaments, 7 to 10 lakhs will be the profit. 4000 tons of gold ornaments are
sold in a year in our country. It is also said only 800 tons of gold needed is
imported after paying the above-mentioned tax. So, it is crystal clear, the
remaining 3200 tons of gold is smuggled. The army that struggle to achieve this
Herculean task includes thousands of carriers of different types that vary from
small sparrows to big blue whales. The customs officials arrest every now and
then a few carriers with one or two kg of gold. They are actually 1% or 2% of
the actual gold that is being smuggled. No doubt, it is only a tip of the iceberg.
On 30-06-2020 a ‘diplomatic bag of 79 kg addressed to U.A.E. consulate reached Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. Such packages are
always with some food items for the staff in the consulate. So as the part of
maintaining good relationship with foreign centers, such bags are always need
to be delivered on the arrival day itself even if they arrive on holidays. But,
on that day the chief customs cargo officer received a highly confidential call
saying that gold was smuggled in the ‘diplomatic bag’. As he had to get the
permission from the Ministry of External affairs to examine the diplomatic bag,
he passed the message and waited for the permission. Though he received calls
from different carriers to deliver the ‘diplomatic bag’ he never got any call
from the Consulate.
However, on 05-07-2020, he
got the permission. In the presence of the officials of the U.A.E. consulate the
bag was checked. 30.25 kg of gold was found in it hidden in steel pipes, door
locks and air compressors. The officials of the consulate declared that the
gold found in their baggage was not sent to them. So, the customs official
ceased the gold and started their investigation. Mr. Sarith, PRO of the consulate,
who was authorised to get the baggage from the Airport was taken into custody.
On questioning him, many names were declared to have connection with the
smuggling of gold. Swapna Suresh, an operation manager of Information
Technology and infrastructure of Kerala and Siva Sankar, IT Secretary were
removed from their position as they were suspected to involve in the case. As
the case is a threat to National Security, National investigation Agency (NIA)
has taken over the investigation. Sarith, Swapna, Sandeep Nair and Ramees were
taken into custody. Many will be trapped soon.
Actually, gold smuggling began in the 1950s by Haji Masthan
in the then Bombay. It is still continuing. Only in 2011 when the tax was
reduced to 1% to import gold, gold worth of 42 million dollars were imported.
Now, the price of gold is thrice of the then price. Last year only gold worth
of 20 million dollars were imported when the tax was 12.5%. from this we may
understand one thing. Unless and otherwise, the tax for importing gold is
reduced, we can’t control the smuggling of gold. More and more Swapnas, Sarith,
Sandeeps, Rameeses and Fasil Farids will appear and fill the gap. Even the
items our farmers cultivate in our country are imported at low tax rate from
foreign countries. There too Govt doesn’t hesitate to turn its deaf ear to the
cry of the affected farmers like rubber and pepper. Here we can’t understand
why our Govt hesitate to reduce the tax for gold import and help to uproot the
gold smuggling. Within few months gold has got a hike of 40% in its price. The
hike is still continuing. So, it is the need of the time. This is the only way
to put an end to make quick money through gold smuggling. If it is allowed to
continued even the fence will start eating the crops in the near future.
----Thulasidharan
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