{"id":31459,"date":"2024-04-20T19:33:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T19:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/golds-own-country-a-lucrative-trade-fueled-by-rival-gangs-and-high-demand\/"},"modified":"2024-04-20T19:33:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T19:33:26","slug":"golds-own-country-a-lucrative-trade-fueled-by-rival-gangs-and-high-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/golds-own-country-a-lucrative-trade-fueled-by-rival-gangs-and-high-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold\u2019s Own Country: A lucrative trade fueled by rival gangs and high demand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gold\u2019s<\/div>


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The flight path of smuggling gold into Kerala<\/a> is rather familiar. A carrier, mostly from the United Arab Emirates, agrees to transport the contraband in return for a commission and an air ticket. They WhatsApp their photo just before boarding so that those who are waiting at or near the destination airport to receive the illegal glitter can easily recognise them. Sometimes, that script can take a turn.
Scenario 1.<\/strong> The carrier strikes a deal with a different buyer, often a rival gang, changes their shirt before they land to avoid detection and hands the contraband to the new recipient for a higher cut. This is called \u201cbusting\u201d. If things get really desperate, the carrier may even get kidnapped.<\/p>\n

Scenario 2.<\/strong> This is a riskier activity to throw the Customs<\/a> off the scent and sneak past the intended recipient. The Customs will get a false tip-off about a carrier, while the gold booty is transported by another passenger. As the word spreads that a carrier has been caught, the intended recipient will lie low for a few days. Meanwhile, the person carrying the gold will deliver it safely to the rival buyer. <\/p>\n

In the shadowy world of gold smuggling<\/a> in Kerala, which intersects with gang rivalry<\/a> and hawala money<\/a> transactions, all of these are par for the course. \u201cThere have been many such instances of what we call \u2018pottikkal\u2019 or busting<\/a> in Kerala,\u201d says a Customs official in the northern part of the state, who has requested anonymity. <\/p>\n

One of the most dramatic instances of busting unravelled in the state in June 2021, when a carrier arrived from Dubai concealing gold in a coffee maker. He had multiple rival gangs<\/a> lying in wait to meet him at the Kozhikode airport. The Customs officials nabbed the carrier just before he left the airport. Meanwhile, those waiting outside were tangled in a high-speed vehicle chase. One of the vehicles collided with a truck, killing five gang members and opening a can of worms. Multiple arrests were made. <\/p>\n

But none of it was a deterrent to either smuggling or busting, which continues in the state alongside a seemingly unquenchable appetite for the yellow metal<\/a>. Between 2020 and 2023, Kerala saw the highest number of gold smuggling cases in the country. In 2023, Kerala was No.3, after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. ALL THAT GLITTER<\/strong>
Historically, Kerala has been a large market for gold, a favourite with families who keep buying the metal\u2014 brides are decked with it and bank lockers are stocked with it. It is Malayali\u2019s safe-haven asset. When things turn dire, it is pledged for a loan. <\/p>\n

About a quarter of the 800-1,000 tonnes of gold that India imports heads to Kerala, says Abdul Nazar, national director, All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council. With gold rates currently close to a record Rs 75,000 for 10 gm, there is a slight lull in sales as customers are waiting for prices to drop. Even if they do not, jewellers are confident that demand will bounce back; such is the Malayali\u2019s obsession. Jewellers say those who have weddings this year are making \u201cadvance bookings\u201d, striking deals to pay in today\u2019s prices or the rates at the time of the actual purchase, whichever is lower. <\/p>\n

There is also a lull in gold smuggling, says the Customs official. \u201cSince prices are high, the margin for smuggled gold will be less (compared with prices in Dubai). While they have to pay Rs 75 lakh for a kilo of gold, the profit might be only about Rs 3 lakh, which includes the cut for carriers. Unless they are very sure they won\u2019t be caught, the risk might not be worth it,\u201d says the official.<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Multiple Customs<\/a> operations to seize smuggled gold in Kerala did not yield much last month. But this quiet period may be temporary. Due to an endless demand for gold, combined with a high import duty of 15% and a stream of passengers from Gulf countries to Kerala\u2019s four international airports who act as carriers\u2014at times under duress but mostly voluntarily\u2014 smuggling is a perennial activity.<\/p>\n

In the last couple of years, the favourite modus operandi of smugglers is to conceal gold in body cavities, usually as capsules in the rectum. \u201cGold dust is mixed in a rubber paste along with sand and put in rubber or plastic capsules and inserted in the rectum,\u201d says an official, who was previously with the Customs department in Chennai. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe gold dust will be extracted through heat treatment of the paste.\u201d This is particularly hard to spot by metal detectors. At times, trained eyes can pick up the carrier, who might show signs of stress. \u201cSuspected passengers can be made to squat for a while\u2014the pain will become unbearable and they will give up after a short time,\u201d the official says. <\/p>\n

Complicating matters is the occasional connivance of Customs and security officers or airport and airline staff with smuggling rings. <\/p>\n

The official in Kerala says there is another red flag\u2014if the passenger is headed towards Koduvally. The town in Kozhikode district is legendary for its density of jewellery shops, which has also earned it the notoriety for being a centre for gold smuggling. In one instance, a woman travelling with three children attracted the attention of an officer precisely because they were going to Koduvally. Her husband was travelling on a different ticket, which further set off the alarm bells. On examination, both were found to be carrying gold illegally.<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

K Surendran, general secretary of All Kerala Gold and Silver Merchants Association<\/a> and a native of Koduvally, says the place is being tarnished unfairly. \u201cIt\u2019s not that there are more cases here than in the adjoining districts of Malappuram or Kannur but the media highlights Koduvally, which has affected its branding,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Typically, carriers agree to bring in gold worth less than Rs 1 crore. If it\u2019s higher, it becomes a non-bailable offence that can attract seven years of imprisonment. If it is less than Rs 50 lakh, it is only a civil offence. \u201cOf the passengers landing in Kerala with illegal gold, we are able to catch only 5-7%,\u201d says the Kerala official .<\/p>\n

What could help, says the official who was earlier in Chennai, is an increased deployment of body scanners. Nazar says the unofficial estimate of the value of gold smuggled into Kerala is Rs 1 lakh crore. As long as the import duty on gold is high and the penalty is not severe, smuggling will be attractive, he says. \u201cIf import duty is brought down to 4-5%, smuggling will come down.\u201d Currently, unemployed youth are willing to act as couriers and smugglers are ready to go to houses to take orders, he says. \u201cThe government needs to step up its vigil.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the Customs official in Kerala is not hopeful that the illicit Kerala gold story will come to an end. \u201cIt\u2019s too profitable,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flight path of smuggling gold into Kerala is rather familiar. A carrier, mostly from the United Arab Emirates, agrees to transport the contraband in return for a commission and an air ticket. They WhatsApp their photo just before boarding so that those who are waiting at or near the destination airport to receive the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-42031747\/et-logo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[35397,643,21676,189,11484,35398,1419,35396,35403,35399,437,2982,35404,35402,1292,35400,35401,14195,27564],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31459"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31461,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31459\/revisions\/31461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}