Kannur: For the first time in Kerala, two Customs officers have been served with transfer orders for allegedly attempting to steal smuggled gold seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Kannur Airport by threatening an approved valuer. While one officer was a superintendent of the Air Customs wing at Kannur Airport, the other person was an inspector. Both of them belong to the northern parts of the country.
They have been transferred to the GST Commissionerate in Thiruvananthapuram. The transfer order issued by the Chief Commissioner, Customs and GST, also says that these two officers should not be posted at any airport in the future. However, the order does not explain the reason for the transfers and only mentions that the two officers were shifted for administrative purposes.
The series of incidents that led to the transfers began a week ago when DRI officers seized a gold mixture in the form of capsules from a carrier who arrived at Kannur Airport from Sharjah. The smuggled gold was handed over by DRI to Air Customs for further procedures.
The two Customs officers, who have now been transferred, subsequently approached an approved valuer who is registered with the Customs at Mattannur in Kannur district to separate the gold from the mixture and collect a certificate from him on its quantity.
However, instead of handing over the gold mixture to the valuer and leaving, the two Customs officers directed the latter in a threatening manner to keep aside a portion of the gold separated from the mixture for them. They wanted the valuer to issue a certificate only for the remaining gold.
Even though the gold valuer followed the instructions of the Customs officers and set aside 87 grams of gold for them, he also contacted the Assistant Commissioner of Customs at Kannur Airport and alerted the latter of the development.
Top Customs officers soon intervened in the matter and took possession of all the gold, including the 87 grams. An internal probe followed, and a report was filed with the Customs Preventive and GST Commissioners, based on which the two Customs officers were transferred from Kannur Airport.
