(This is Part 2 of the series 'Gold & Diplomacy' by Manorama Online. Read Part 1 here: Unwritten rule in smuggling: Death, the punishment for cheating. That's why Hamsa lost his life)
There are many kinds of gold smugglers — ‘from the small fish to the big shark’, figuratively speaking.
There are students who smuggle gold for pocket money, there are those who do it to raise funds for a plane ticket to home and then there are those who get into it to live a life of luxury. But most of them smuggle the yellow metal in small quantity — often less than a kilogramme.
However, as the sense of safety increases, the smugglers tend to deal in bigger quantities of gold. The attempt to smuggle 30 kg of gold worth about Rs 15 crore in a diplomatic baggage was in the belief that it would not be seized because of the immunity such consignments enjoy.
There are recruiting agencies in Dubai and Kerala that supply carriers for smuggling gold, say Customs official. Each agency gets Rs 5,000 for supplying one carrier.
Same carrier is not used often. That is because they could come under the scanner of Customs officials if they make frequent overseas trips and run the risk of being caught.
A gold smuggler does not necessarily live in luxury. Some do it because of penury. Two years ago, a middle-aged man was arrested at the Trivandrum airport with less than 1 kg of gold. He had been working abroad for many years.
He worked for a meagre salary and he had to take care of the treatment of his daughter and also the household expenses. As he could not save enough money to buy a ticket, he was not able to visit his native place for several years.
When he was promised Rs20,000 and a ticket to Kerala for smuggling gold, he agreed to take up the assignment.
The gold was hidden in his anus and it got trapped. He screamed and then revealed about the gold being smuggled to the authorities.
There are such people, too.
Professional smugglers, however, are at a different level.
Gold in stomach and anus
In the past, gold was made into blocks for smuggling, but now it is smuggled in emulsified or molten form.
It is difficult to detect gold when it is brought in an emulsified form. Neither scanning or metal detector can catch it.
When gold is melted, filled in devices, brought to Kerala and then melted again to restore it to the original form, there is loss of 10 g for every kg of the yellow metal. The loss could be less when skilled people melt the gold.
Emulsified gold is smuggled by hiding it in anus, swallowing it or hiding it in garment.
People who are not trained cannot carry gold in the anus. The training involves wrapping a tape around a small battery of the TV remote, covering it with a condom and inserting it into the anus. Then the size of the battery is increased.
When gold has to be smuggled, it is filled in tubes, which are then wrapped in tape and the whole thing is then covered in condom before it is put in the anus.
Those who smuggle gold this way regularly face serious health problems.
The DRI has seized gold weighing up to 1.5 kg hidden in the anus.
Once, the DRI arrested a person on suspicion, but the officials could not find gold. Finally, after questioning him when the DRI officials decided to take him for an X-ray the next day, he confessed to carrying gold. He had 1 kg of gold in his anus, but he sat for a whole day without any physical ailments.
Skill to identify
It takes skill to distinguish between faeces and gold in an emulsified form lying in the stomach. There is only a slight difference between the two.
Earlier, when a person caught smuggling was taken to the X-ray room, officials would stand outside to respect the privacy of the person. But, following instances of smugglers trying to escape by winning over X-ray technicians, officials started standing in the room itself disregarding the radiations.
When officials feel smugglers would resort to various tricks to escape, they move with great caution.
Officials say that if gold is found to be in the stomach, the smugglers themselves take it out.
Officials say they have seen smugglers who could remove gold from the anus into the underwear and then keep it aside with the pant while being taken for X-ray. After the X-ray is taken, they put the gold back into the anus without anyone noticing it while wearing the pant back.
Gold cannot be detected with X-ray. But if it is kept in stomach in the form of bricks, it can be.
Gold popped in the form of a pill can also be detected. There are people who smuggle gold in clothes, wigs and footwear. If using footwear, smugglers fill the soles with gold and then stitch them together.
But only a small amount of gold can be smuggled in these manners. Last year’s seizure of 25 kg of gold and the 30 kg of gold caught on July 5 this year were very different from how small-time smugglers operate.
In the 25 kg case, a Customs superintendent Radhakrishnan was found helping the smugglers. He was in charge of the scanning centre.
In the 30 kg case, smugglers were trying to sneak in the gold in a diplomatic baggage that came from the UAE. Now, the quantity of gold smuggled from Dubai will increase only if smugglers feel more safe.
