It is a fact that the authorities themselves have revealed that there is a big mafia operating in the state that smuggles gold through the airport. However, the investigation into gold smuggling never reaches the bigwigs who control it. Carriers who bring gold are the only ones who are caught. They become the only accused in the case and usually, the investigation never goes beyond that. Karipur, Nedumbassery and Thiruvananthapuram do not fall behind in gold smuggling. It is an open secret that even with all the technological advances, gold can still be smuggled through airports with the help of airport customs and police. The surrounding areas of each airport are home to gold smuggling agents and gangsters, sometimes leading to clashes and even kidnappings. Last day, DRI officials arrested two customs officials who were involved in smuggling a total of 80 kg of gold through Thiruvananthapuram airport.

These officials were caught by intercepting their phone conversations with gold smugglers. These are officers with salaries and benefits of around 1 lakh. The government pays them for preventing gold smuggling but they were aiding and abetting the gold smuggling by taking an amount larger than that as a bribe. The situation at the airport is that the fence itself was eating the crop. If they help smuggle a kilo of gold, they get between seventy thousand and one lakh rupees as a bribe. Only they know how many times such smuggling takes place in a month. No matter what, they earn three to four times their salary every month. There are even officials who take a fixed amount as a monthly bribe. There is also an allegation that gold smuggling mafias have gained influence and are pushing tainted officials into Air Customs. We should also see that not all customs officials are corrupt. However, due to the high connections of corrupt people in and outside the service, even honest officials cannot take action against them.

The officials are aiding gold smuggling by turning a blind eye at the scanner inspection. The gold, which was not caught by Customs, was caught during DRI's inspection, which led to the entrapment of Inspectors S Nithin and Anish Mohammad of Thiruvananthapuram Air Intelligence Unit. During the interrogation, the accused had given a statement that the customs officials had helped them to bring out the gold. If found guilty, they should not only be dismissed from the service but also confiscate the excess property earned through bribery. Only maximum punishment in such cases can prevent such trends in the future. The investigation should also move to the giant sharks that control gold smuggling.