The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an absconder wanted in the politically sensational UAE Consulate-centered gold smuggling case that rocked the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala in 2020.
The agency identified the wanted person as Ratheesh, a resident of Kannur. A press release issued by the NIA on September 20 said the agency arrested him when he arrived from Dubai. It did not elaborate further on the circumstances of his detention.
The case related to the suspected exploitation of the UAE Consulate’s diplomatic channel and political goodwill to smuggle gold into India in trade quantities through the Thiruvananthapuram air cargo terminal during the 2019-20 period.
The racket came to light in June 2020 when the Customs inspected an air cargo addressed to a senior diplomat at the UAE consulate. The inspectors found contraband gold, an estimated 30 kg, concealed in iron pipes.
The subsequent investigation resulted in the arrest of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar and two former consulate employees with influential political connections, among others.
The probe also came close to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). It provided ammunition to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to assail the LDF government during the 2021 Assembly election campaign.
The NIA said Ratheesh was a close associate of another suspect in the case, Hamsath Abdu Salam. He transported the smuggled gold from Thiruvananthapuram for sale to one Nandakumar in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. He was a cog in the well-oiled gold smuggling network.
The Union government had slapped a high import tax, an estimated 18%, on gold to mitigate the economic strain caused by a distressing current account deficit.
Smugglers and hawala networks scented an opportunity in the Centre government’s decision. They moved to wring profits from the yawning tax differential.
They deployed a network of carriers, including women and families returning home from their workplaces in the Gulf, to smuggle gold into India through airports. The UAE Consulate channel became the most successful conduit.
The handlers at the apex of the network used ingenious and constantly updated methods of concealment to smuggle gold with the help of airline and corrupt Customs officials on their payroll. The colossal domestic demand for gold fuelled the fraudulent enterprise.
The suspects funnelled the profits back to Dubai via hawala networks and repeatedly ploughed it into the business. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probed the money-laundering angle of the case. At the same time, the NIA focussed on the repercussions to national security. It has signalled that some in the network funnelled some of their profits to aid a now-proscribed terrorist organisation.
The echoes of the sensational case still linger in Kerala politics, with some of the accused attempting to implicate the CMO in the fraudulent scheme.
