(This is Part 1 of the series 'Kerala's Shady Gold Rush' by Malayala Manorama. Part 2 here: 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)

Four policemen are on duty at the UAE consulate at Manacaud in Thiruvananthapuram. They have no idea who are the employees of the consulate or what their designations are. They let in anyone who walks in with an identity card.

Days into her job at the consulate, Swapna Suresh was peeved that the policemen were not saluting her. She called up an additional director general of police, who promptly pulled up the policemen on duty. Though he tried to suspend them for their “dereliction of duty”, police association representatives defended them. The ADGP persisted, until a department-level inquiry was initiated against the four cops, including a head constable. Word is that they are more than liberal with salutes nowadays.

The woman wanted in connection with the smuggling case in Thiruvananthapuram is shrouded in mystery. She studied in Abu Dhabi before returning to Kerala a few years ago. She has been jumping low-paying jobs until a few years ago. Her resume includes a short stint with Air India SATS and the UAE Consulate.

The job in the consulate launched her career as a high-flyer. She later joined a project run by the Kerala information technology department. Investigators are trying to find out if she had any ulterior motive in doing so.

A polyglot with command over English and Arabic, Swapna found it easier to build a network of influential people. The stellar growth in her fortunes in a short span was jaw-dropping. She threw parties in luxury hotels and apartments, rubbing shoulders with bigwigs. She was a frequent flyer. She has been building a palatial house in the heart of the city. Top officers attended the foundation-laying ceremony.

Whenever she landed in trouble, she could place a distress call to top officers who were willing to bail her out. They also helped her climb the career ladder.

Mishandling

Swapna’s ability to pull strings was evident when she was summoned by the crime branch for questioning. She had been accused of framing a colleague in a sexual harassment complaint while she was working with Air India SATS, a joint venture which does ground handling for the airline.

In the six hours Swapna was questioned, the crime branch officers received several angry phone calls from the top. That was the only time the crime branch ever confronted the woman who had been accused of a variety of offences including forgery of documents and impersonation. Officers including one in the rank of the director general of police demanded that the crime branch let go of her.

Though Swapna tried hard to mislead the officers in the initial stage of questioning, she was cornered when the sleuths called in the man who had lodged the complaint against her. Swapna denied having met L S Sibu but the complainant said he knew her very well.

Once her core lie was exposed, Swapna tried to create a scene by breaking down and fainting. She said she wanted to meet her husband, who was called in.

Swapna’s role in filing a false complaint against Sibu in the name of 17 women staff was revealed by the crime branch in a report submitted in the Kerala High Court. She presented a girl named Neethu Mohan as if she was Parvathi Sabu while a commission set up by the Air India to inquire the complaint against Sibu.

Sibu had to go to the court to get the crime branch on the case. His complaint against Swapna was earlier turned down by the crime branch for lack of evidence. Though subsequent investigations pointed to the role of Swapna, she was never made an accused thanks to her protectors in the police.

Into IT

How did Swapna Suresh get recommended by a placement agency for the job as a consultant in the Space Park run by the state information technology department even? Did she tap into her connections with top officers including the information technology secretary to get the plum post?

She had claimed she secured a degree from the Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University in Maharashtra in 2011. The university has, however, confirmed that the signature and seal on the certificate are forged and that there are no security stamps on it.

The Information Technology department insisted that they were not aware of Swapna Suresh’s antecedents. The officers said she was not even their employee.

The Space Park in Techno City at Pallippuram was approved by the Kerala cabinet in October 2018 to encourage space research in association with the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

Unholy nexus

Swapna’s network extended to top IPS officers, as per the information received by the customs department. They vied with each other in everything from inviting her to private Holi celebrations to protecting her from prosecution. In return, they enjoyed their pampered stay in the United Arab Emirates as guests of the Indian consulate.

Swapna was invited to the recent Holi party organised by IAS and IPS officers in a five-star hotel in Kovalam. A top officer even slipped into the swimming pool while he was shaking a leg. When he went to Dubai to study police reforms, Swapna made sure that he was treated as a guest of the consulate.

Swapna befriended top guns by handing them invitations to the programmes hosted by the consulate. She followed up by sending them gifts on special days. In return, she got invited to the programmes organised by the state government. She soon found her way into the inner ring and found her a job as a manager.

When some of the top police officers from Kerala went to the UAE, the consulate in Thiruvananthapuram would send a mail asking for preferential treatment for them as “guests”. They would be assured of free transport and other freebies.

Fighting the rot within

The customs officer who put his foot down to bust the smuggling racket in Thiruvananthapuram has a history of exposing similar scams. Customs commissioner H Ramamoorthy was not intimidated by the fact that the baggage in question enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

He refused to budge to the intimidating tactics of two persons who claimed to represent the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. As much as 30 kilograms of gold was found in a box which was supposed to be going to the consulate as food.

Ramamoorthy was working in the Delhi airport in August 2000 when his team intercepted an Uzbek woman named Volga and her 27 bags. She was found to be smuggling Chinese silk to India with the connivance of customs officers. The contraband was worth Rs 1.56 crore.

The case was handed over to the CBI in 2001.

The golden route

Gold mines are largely concentrated in African countries. Most of them are owned by European firms. Since many of these countries prohibit taking out money as dollars, agents transport gold to Dubai and sell it off.

As a free market, Dubai has developed into the hub of an international gold distribution network. Gold is sold by agents to the refineries in Dubai. The yellow metal can be transformed into any shape in the refineries. The most familiar shape is the 116-gram bars known as “gold biscuits”. Anyone can buy gold in Dubai. Everything is legal up to this point.

India, however, is governed by a different set of rules when it comes to gold. The metal can be imported only by paying huge import duties. Enter the smugglers, who try to sneak in the metal without paying duties.

Money is transported through hawala channels to Dubai to buy gold. Gold is smuggled into India through carriers who are paid 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the gold’s selling price as commission. The profit is much higher for the racket since they are saving on import duties of 12.5 per cent.

Most of the gold smuggling is through the air route. Gold is made into powder or paste that can be filled into rubber sachets which are either swallowed or squeezed into the rectum of the carriers. These consignments are often out of X-ray eyes. There were even attempts to hide gold strands in the hair.

A Dubai government crackdown has led to a dip in smuggling in recent years.

Once in India, the gold bars are melted to make ornaments. Such illegal centres are working in many parts of Kerala. Some of their centres were busted in Thrissur by the customs department last year. They received gold bars even from Tamil Nadu.

They are equipped to extract the metal which had been made into a paste by adding some chemicals. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had filed a case against some people in Kozhikode who had been running such centres as a cottage industry.

Another smuggling route is the border with Nepal. Gold is smuggled into a Nepal airport and driven across the Indian border through the Raxaul check post.

Some others choose to smuggle gold into Sri Lanka before carrying them in boats to Tamil Nadu.

Gold can also be smuggled in transshipment containers but that takes longer.

(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)