The Bigger Picture behind the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case

Let's first look back in history and see how and why gold smuggling has been prevalent in India. The act was common sight in the years before 1968, majorly due to the Gold Control Act of the Indian Government which prohibited the import of Gold into the country except for jewellery. Fond of the precious metal, people began illegally smuggling gold into the country to fulfil their personal as well as financial needs. Seeing this, the government lifted this provision in 1968. However, gold smuggling has ever since been prevalent for the sole reason of saving the custom duties that apply on it when one imports it legally. Recently, there has been an upsurge in the number of cases of gold smuggling, partly due to the increase in custom duty on gold from 10% to 12.5% in this year's budget. Majorly, the gold is smuggled from the UAE and also from porous Indian borders with Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan.

On 5th July 2020, approximately 30 kilograms of gold worth 14.82 crores in Indian currency was seized by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs at the Tiruvananthpuram airport. The baggage in which it was being smuggled was supposed to be delivered to the UAE consulate in Tiruvananthpuram itself.

On 10th July, NIA took up the investigation and registered an FIR under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the 4 accused namely; Sarith P.S. , Swapna Prabha Suresh, Fazil Afreed and Sandeep Nair. A hoard of other people were also involved in the investigation ranging from beaurocrats, politicians to even news anchors. Swapna Suresh had also made an explosive remarks last month during interrogation by the NIA, in which she had claimed that she knew Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. After Swapna had been terminated from the UAE Consulate, she soon got into the Kerala Space Park. This happened through her connections with the IT Secretary, M Sivashankar. Now the interesting thing is that after the investigations began, it was found out that her degrees and certificates were forged which raised a question on her qualifications. Despite being an accused in a forgery case, it’s surprising the police or intelligence didn’t know the same person was working in a Government entity — Space Park which comes under the Chief Minister's Officee. This is why, Opposition parties link Swapna with CM Pinarayi Vijayan even though prima facie no direct connection exists. However, it’s very likely, she might have used her influence to hide her background information to secure the job in Space Park. These remarks were followed by opposition backlash with the BJP state president, K Surendran, observing a one-day fast and the Congress-led UDF bringing a no-confidence motion against the government in the assembly which was defeated.

Something that started out as a mere investigation of a gold smuggling case took a political turn when state opposition leaders from the Congress demanded the Chief Minister's resignation over the alleged involvement of his office in the case. The Bhartiya Janta Party has also been part of the movement from the opposition. The opposition claims that M Sivasankar, former IT secretary, who was being investigated in the case was majorly involved in the same and hence was removed as the principal secretary of the CM. A major point to be noted here is that while there seems to be a connection in both the incidents, the removal and the investigation, it has not been confirmed, neither been talked upon. Agency officers involved in the probe later officially claimed that till now they have not come across any hard-line evidence to implicate the Kerala chief minister or prove “institutional involvement of the Chief Minister’s Office." The case became even more complex when on August 25, a mysterious fire broke out in the Kerala Secretariat in Tiruvananthpuram which destroyed a number of files.

While both the opposition and the ruling party have been alleging each other of various things, it is important to point out, as said out by Pinaraya Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, that the issue is not one where the state government can be blamed or one where it can be implied that it is a state government's failure. It is indeed an issue which is under the scrutiny of the National government and hence the alleging done by the opposition regarding the lapse or the failure of the state's system seems inappropriate and rather redundant in this scenario. However, regarding the alleged involvement of the state office in the case, investigation is still going on and the NIA has been encountering some very major breakthroughs. While the opposition claims that the CM is not answering the questions and avoiding any discussion on the issue in the legislative assembly of Kerala, the ruling party says the exact opposite, also claiming that the opposition has been unnecessarily sloganeering, and abusing in the sessions of the LA.

Now making the case ever more interesting is the terror link that the NIA has revealed in the case. As the case pertains to the smuggling of large quantity of gold into India from offshore locations threatening the economic stability and national security of the country, it amounts to a terrorist act as stated in section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Moreover, the case has national and international linkage and the initial enquiries had revealed that the proceeds of smuggled gold could be used for financing of terrorism in India.

It’s not a surprise Islamic extremist groups like ISIS have major influence on the state of Kerala, more than forty-five cases of pro-ISIS activities, ranging from online propaganda to travelling abroad with the intention of joining Islamic State, have been recorded in Kerala, more than any other state in India. Moreover, Kerala’s northern parts, which are predominantly Muslim, have been in the news for the number of pro-ISIS activities recorded both officially as per court documents and unofficially as far as media reports go, and on 26th July the same month the scam was unearthed a U.N. report on terrorism warned that there are “significant numbers” of Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka, noting that the al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) terror group is planning attacks in the region.

While what a common man would think as a case of gold smuggling done in order to avoid the custom duties, turned out to be something bigger than expected. As each person associated was investigated, discoveries were made and those were the building blocks of making the issue much larger than what was expected out of it. The case started from gold smuggling, took a political turn, showed major lapses in the security system and turned out to be potentially linked to a terrorism case. The question now arises is whether there was a hidden motive behind the smuggling or whether the government was part of the conspiracy or not and if they were, who is to blame?