A major investigation is under way in India after customs officials uncovered an attempt to smuggle Dh7 million worth of gold from the UAE to Kerala this week.
Law enforcement agencies have made one arrest in the southern city of Thiruvananthapuram after 30kg of gold was found hidden in aluminium cylindrical locks and placed in a package labelled ‘foodstuff’.
Customs officials in India said the shipment arrived from the Emirates through air cargo and was addressed to the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
The UAE embassy in New Delhi, India’s capital, described Sunday's incident as a ‘major crime’ and said the culprits who “sought to tarnish the reputation of the UAE mission in India will not be spared.”
“The authorities in the UAE have launched an investigation to find out who sent the cargo containing gold to the address of the UAE consulate,” the embassy said on Twitter.
“We remain committed to co-operating with Indian authorities in getting to the root of the crime.”
UAE officials said investigating agencies in both countries were working together to track down the crime syndicate responsible.
High taxes in India make smuggling gold from the Middle East a lucrative business.
The goods and services tax on gold in India is 18 per cent meaning the tax savings on this consignment alone would amount to Dh1.25 million.
The fact that the attempt to smuggle (a) huge quantity of gold was concealed in diplomatic baggage makes the matter extremely serious
Professional gangs in India and the Middle East work with experts to mould gold so it can be concealed inside metal equipment or melted and smuggled inside the bodies of plane passengers.
Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala chief minister, has written to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting federal agencies to conduct a thorough investigation due to the “serious implications” of the crime
“The fact that the attempt to smuggle (a) huge quantity of gold was concealed in diplomatic baggage makes the matter extremely serious,” he wrote.
Kerala customs officials confiscated more than a ton of gold last year in raids at seaports and airports.
Customs commissioner Sumit Kumar told The National about an elaborate system that involved financiers, carriers and complex logistics to transport and disguise the precious metal so it passed scans and metal detectors.
“All such operations are run by syndicates because only they have this kind of money, plus additional packing and storing they must pay the intermediary helping them. For example gold that is brought by human carriers is sold in a paste. They break it up, mix it and then do a rectal concealment,” he said.
“There are organised networks, people who finance this, people who do the logistics, help them get it out, people who transport it and those who take it to the unsuspecting final customer.”
His officers conduct about 700 raids a year with more than 550kg gold uncovered in Kerala state last year.
“People do body concealment or in goods sent on aircraft, concealment in ships in containers,” Mr Kumar said.
“Nobody will get gold in the pure form openly because then it is as good as handing it over to us. All cargo is scanned. So a syndicate uses dense goods to place it into so that during a scan, the image is not something out of ordinary. Even in a physical examination, you may not see it. You need break up the item to find it.”
He said investigations were being conducted with involvement of the UAE.
Officials were checking documents and evidence to trace the consignment.
“We are gathering information and examining the technical evidence to find out other people who can come forward and help us,” he said.
“We need to find out who sent the consignment, who got clearance done, who it was intended for, who purchased and who financed it.”
Acting on a tip-off, customs officers on Sunday seized the box after obtaining clearance from the UAE embassy.
The cylindrical metal lock units were placed inside a carton containing food items, a pair of shoes and speakers.
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Police have arrested Sarith Kumar, a former employee with the UAE consulate in Kerala, and are on the lookout for another accomplice.
There has been an uproar in Kerala with demands from opposition parties for a full investigation.
Two government employees were dismissed including a top aide to the chief minister who hired a woman for an information technology department and was allegedly linked to the smuggling.
Police are on the lookout for the woman who had worked with the consulate for three years.
The maximum prison sentence is seven years, under the Indian Customs Act, for illegally bringing in large quantities of contraband including gold and evading taxes.
Mridul John, a defence lawyer who has previously worked on smuggling cases, said most were from the Middle East.
“The relationship between Kerala and the Gulf is very strong. This is a large amount of gold so it’s the economics that matters,” he said.
“Most people use several means to get gold into the country like inside electronic equipment, in chocolates and other eatables.
“Those are small quantities but [Sunday's bust] is a large amount.
“These people used the connection of working with the consulate even though they were not staffers any more. The case has got so much interest because of the connection with the UAE consulate and government of Kerala officials.”
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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3. Hajj
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23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
