Gold smuggling under diplomatic cover foiled in Kerala

About 30 kilogram gold was seized on Sunday from the diplomatic cargo addressed to the official of the consulate of a Gulf country in Thiruvananthapuram.

It is said to be for the first time that such a modus operandi misusing diplomatic privileges was being detected in the state. The seized gold was worth nearly Rs 15 crore.

Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) in Kerala, Sumit Kumar, told DH that the diplomatic baggage was checked following an intelligence input. Prior permission of Ministry of External Affairs was obtained and senior officials carried out the operations considering the sensitivity.

He also said that the mission official to whom the baggage was addressed to, disowned the consignment and hence it was suspected that a racket misused the diplomatic route. Some of the members of the racket were already identified and a search for them was on. The mission officials were also cooperating with the probe and hence so far no actions were taken against them.

Gold smuggling to Kerala was quite rampant and smugglers were using many modus operandi like smuggling with the help of aircraft cleaning staff and airport staff. Even couple of incidents of gold smuggling by passengers on Vande Bharat mission flights to Kerala were also foiled recently.