A shocking report says as much as 1,720.582 kilogram gold has been seized from the four airports of Kerala. While this is the case of sized gold, the evaded could be ten times more than this, say officials.
Kozhikode police caught 30 kg within the last seven months, while the preventive department of Kozhikode Customs seized 64 kg during the same period.
There are also reports that several groups from Kerala are smuggling gold via Delhi and other airports. Apart through the airports, gold is being smuggled to India in a considerable quantity via Nepal through road.
Though the gold smuggling leads to hawala money dealings after it reaches Coimbatore and Bengaluru, most of the gold is smuggled for the jewellery stores in Kerala, said the Customs officials.
A minimum profit of Rs 5 lakh could be assured if 1 kg of gold was brought to Kerala eluding tax. The profit will multiply when the gold bars are converted into jewellery.
If look at the cases, most of the gold smugglers belong to Muslim community. For the very reason, possibilities are high if the money gathered through the operations is used for anti-national activities.
There are allegations against a number of staff connected to airports who are helping smugglers. However, only a few are being caught in connection with the cases, indicates reports.
Discussion about this post