(This is Part 4 of the series 'Kerala's Shady Gold Rush' by Malayala Manorama. Part 1 here: Who is Swapna Suresh, the woman wanted in the gold-smuggling case? Part 2: Swapna, Sarith lost out on at least Rs 30 lakh profit after gold seizure Part 3: Hogging gold, laundering money: Strange ways of the smugglers)
Swapna Suresh, the accused no 2 in the gold smuggling case, was key to the conduct of a two-day conference of space scientists organised by the Kerala government early this year. Her aide and former colleague PS Sarith Kumar, the accused no 1 in the gold smuggling case, had also played an active role.
It is widely believed senior scientists stayed away from the conclave held in Kovalam on January 31 and February 1 as they were not happy with the way it was being organised. It seems several senior scientists had an inkling about how the meet would pan out.
Lakhs of rupees were spent in organising the conclave at a five-star hotel with all luxury facilities. A registration fee of Rs 6,000 was charged from the delegates. Students and teachers were required to pay only Rs. 3,000. However, the number of delegates was much less than what the government had expected.
The state government had announced that many dignitaries, including ISRO chairman K Sivan, would participate in the conclave. But none of them turned up. The conclave ended up being just a ‘show’.
The government itself had later criticized the conclave for the way it was organised and questioned the reasons that made the dignitaries stay away.
Other two meets under scanner
Meanwhile, the Customs Department has started looking into the details of foreign delegates who had come to participate in the government's #Future and Kochi Design Week events in 2018 and 2019 and were allowed entry through the green channel at the airport.
The organiser of the two programmes was the former IT secretary M Sivasankar. Both Swapna and Sarith were constantly present at both the events. In fact, the two had received many expat delegates at the Cochin International Airport.
The Customs Department is trying to figure out if there is any connection between the two and some of the foreigners who had attended the events.
The Design Week event was held at Bolgatty Palace on December 12, 13, 14 in 2019, while the #Future conclave was held on March 22, 23 in 2018 at the Le Meridian Hotel.
Sivasankar has been removed from the IT secretary's post after it emerged that he had close ties with Swapna. Employees at the north block of the Secretariat, which houses the chief minister's office, remember Swapna visiting Sivasankar's office often with her identity card dangling from her neck.
Sivasankar was also the principal secretary to the chief minister.
The eye on CMO
While investigating the solar scam that broke out in 2013, the police had wanted to look at CCTV footage to find out if main accused Saritha Nair had visited the chief minister’s office during the previous government. But they got the visuals of only two weeks. Their investigations with the help of CCTV footage reached a dead end.
Later, the police had said that the chief minister’s office should have the infrastructure to store CCTV footage for six months. Customs authorities may look at the CCTV footage of the past few months to find out about Swapna's visits.
Riding on police power
The district head of the Police Officers Association is the best friend of Sandeep Nair, one of the few suspects arrested in the Trivandrum airport smuggling case. Most police officials in Kerala’s capital city are aware of their close friendship.
Sandeep would often travel to Ernakulam and the leader would accompany him. Whenever the vehicle would be stopped by the police, Sandeep’s friend would tell them who he was and then the journey would be smooth.
Even though he was posted in the city, being a head of the association, he could go anywhere. Bosses wouldn’t dare question him.
Both on their way to Ernakulam and on the way back, they would stop at an establishment in Cherthala to celebrate.
The Customs Department is trying to gather details of these trips and those whom Sandeep met regularly in Kochi.
Earlier, the association head had tried to evict a Scheduled Caste family in Aryanad station limits. He also created a commotion near a journalist’s house. In both cases, the police received a complaint, but they did not act because of the control he enjoyed on the association.
A DySP rescued him in both cases. The station house officer went on leave in protest. But the DySP got a good posting in the city in return.
Who is Fareed?
The big question now is to whom does the 30 kg gold seized at the Trivandrum Airport belong. The consignment is valued at Rs 14.8 crore.
According to Sarith, who has been arrested in the case, Fazil Fareed had sent the baggage from the UAE and it was to be taken to Kochi.
The Customs officials have no other details in the case. Officials in the UAE are also investigating to find out about the person named Fazil Fareed. This is not a name familiar in the smuggling world, say officials.
They believe the name is likely to be fake. It is quite possible given that even the smugglers usually do not know who the gold is for.
Someone who could afford to risk Rs 15 crore if the gold was seized would be behind the Trivandrum airport smuggling operation, officials said. Even the Indian expat community in the Middle East is curious to know more about the big fish.
But, going by past experience, no one expects the probe to unmask the person behind the operation — only the small fish fall in the net of law enforcement agencies. Often arrested carriers know only the pseudonym of the consignor and consignee of the smuggled gold.
In any smuggling case in Kerala, investigators have not been able to determine who finally gets the crores of rupees made from selling gold in the state.
This is because neither the Customs nor the DRI has the manpower or technical abilities to take the investigations any further. Both the agencies have been demanding that some other agency should be tasked with the responsibility of finding the many links in a smuggling operation.
According to the investigating agencies, the possible destinations of the money made by selling smuggled gold in Kerala are:
• The homes of the Gulf-based.
• Those who need black money for transactions.
• Illegal currency dealers near airports.
• Politicians during election time or when they need money in huge amount; it is also alleged that many parties use the hawala and gold smuggling route to bring huge donations from the Gulf countries.
• Non-governmental organisations that do not want to reveal their actual statements of account.
• Individuals and organisations involved in anti-national activities; they need money that leaves no trail or has no record. However, this has not been proven yet.
The current investigations will not be limited to the diplomatic parcel case alone. The NIA will also look at other cases in which huge quantities of gold were seized. The diplomatic parcel case is important for the NIA to establish the links of gold smuggling operations in Kerala and abroad.
True purpose of Dubai visits
All those who visit Dubai don’t go there for sight-seeing. Many groups are sponsored by smuggling agents to get their job done. Some bring a whole family to Dubai. Smugglers are also aware that while checking, officials are not always that strict with groups that include mother and children.
When these tourists return, they would be carrying sufficient gold that needs to be smuggled. Such groups usually have no clue about the return date as well as departure airports in the Gulf and the destination one in India on return. It will be decided based on when and where the agent’s friendly officer will be on duty. This will also determine the airport from which the group has to return.
Some agents patronise a group of women to smuggle gold. Individuals like Swapna who are proficient in Arabic are often drafted to such groups. Swapna, for instance, has experience working in the ground handling sections of various airports, including the one at Abu Dhabi. In effect, she knows the various functions at an airport and also has strong connections.
Golden prospects in Africa
Many go to African countries with the aim of making big profits by collecting nuggets (the small lumps of gold or other precious metal found in the raw form when dug out). The ability to identify nuggets is a big factor in such operations. Many Keralites are prominent in such groups because of their proficiency in identifying nuggets.
But this ability is not required in smuggling of gold bought from refineries and other locations. Nuggets would be converted into bars and the conversion would be properly recorded. However, profit from this kind of smuggling is small compared to what one can make by taking a nugget directly to a refinery and then smuggling it.
(Compiled by B Murali with inputs from Jijo John Puthezhath, G Vinod, K Jayaprakash Babu, Raju Mathew, Mahesh Guptan, A S Ullas and Joji Simon.)
