The seizure of 10 kg of smuggled gold from 54 Sri Lankans arriving from Colombo at Kochi airport on Sunday indicates that the smuggling racketeers are frequently changing their modus operandi, senior Customs official say.

Because of the series of gold seizures in the recent past from those arriving from Dubai at the three international airports in Kerala, Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had intensified their scrutiny of passengers from the Gulf sector. This seems to have forced the smugglers to look for airports in other countries and different airlines to dodge the enforcers.

Since all air passengers arriving from Dubai are natural suspects, Colombo is an easy alternative. Dubai-Colombo-Kochi seems to be the least risky smuggling route.

REGULAR CARRIERS

Officials said the Sri Lankans were carriers for smuggling rackets and that they used to hand over the contraband to unknown handlers in Chennai. As usual with gold smuggling, the carriers were unaware of the final destination of the gold. Of the 54 -- from whom a total of 10 kg and 214 grams of gold was seized -- 28 were women.

The smuggled gold was mainly in ornament form and some women had concealed the ornaments in their private parts. Many of the carriers were frequent flyers and some of them had flown in to India half a dozen times in the past one month. This indicates that smugglers have been increasingly using the Dubai-Colombo-Kochi route.

With the money they got from the smuggling rackets, the Sri Lankans used to buy consumer goods from India on their way back which fetched them substantial profit margin. So the Colombo-Kochi trip gave them double benefits.

Officials believe gold smuggling from Dubai via Colombo to Indian airports other than those in Kerala is happening in a big way because of the heightened vigil at Kerala airports. Customs authorities at other airports have been alerted about the new methods.

JEWELLERY RAIDED

Meanwhile, the corporate office of Malabar Gold, a leading jewellery group was raided on Sunday and one of its directors questioned. A DRI source told Business Line that Shahabaz, who had been arrested on suspicion of operating a smuggling racket, had told investigators that he had supplied gold to the jewellery group. However, the group denied any wrong-doing.

Shahbaz was recently arrested in Bangalore for his alleged role in the smuggling of 6 kg of gold by an Air India airhostess and her female friend from Dubai. The smuggled gold was seized at the Kozhikode airport and the two were arrested. The airhostess was sacked by the airline following the arrest.

Following the hike in the duty on gold to 10 per cent and several other import restrictions, gold smuggling has been on the upswing in the country, especially Kerala.

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