THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Gold worth crores are being smuggled into Kerala bypassing the state-of-the-art screening systems at the airports. Not a single day passes without smuggled gold getting caught at Karipur, Nedumbassery, Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur airports. Carriers often smuggle gold by hiding it on the body or by hiding it in electronic devices in the form of paste, mixture, powder and capsules.

Gold smuggling had slightly decreased after the gold smuggled through UAE's diplomatic channel was busted. Although Customs, DRI, Police and Crime Branch agencies are all active now, gold smuggling has not reduced. Gold worth Rs 200 crore is seized every year in Nedumbassery alone. This might be a small quantity compared to the smuggled gold that might have come out safely from the airport.

The gold smuggling mafia has the connivance of a small section of Customs and CISF officials. 2 Customs Superintendents who were involved in gold smuggling were sacked in April. Recently, DRI had arrested 2 Customs Inspectors in Thiruvananthapuram in an 80 kg gold smuggling case. In Karipur, CISF Assistant Commandant Naveen Kumar was suspended last week. There is a group who have cleaning and ground handling workers to get the gold abandoned in the plane out of the airport. There are several instances where those who manage to escape from Customs inspection get nabbed by the police. In Karipur, the police seized 30.75 kg of gold worth Rs 28.46 crore this year.

Although there are state-of-the-art scanners that can capture 3D images, in Karipur, Nedumbassery and Kannur airports, the gold carriers manage to come out bypassing them. Baggage checking is done in four stages at Nedumbassery. Thiruvananthapuram lacks state-of-the-art scanners.