According to an RTI document, between January 2023 and August 2024, two Kerala police personnel from Malappuram were attacked by gold smugglers operating through Karippur airport. The inquiry about whether any police personnel in Malappuram had been attacked by gold smugglers was raised by RTI activist Raju Vazhakkala. In response, the police confirmed that senior civil police officers Muhammad Shabeer and Abdul Sabur were the ones attacked by the smugglers.
On September 21, while responding to allegations made by an independent MLA—formerly part of the LDF—that Kerala Police personnel were involved in stealing confiscated gold outside Karippur airport, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan presented statistics on gold smuggling operations in the state. The CM stated that in 2022, 79.9kg of gold were confiscated in 98 cases; in 2023, 48.7kg were seized in 61 cases; and in 2024 (up to September 21), 18.1kg were recovered in 26 cases. “In the last three years, a total of 147.79kg of gold have been confiscated, with 124.47kg seized in Malappuram alone,” he said, emphasizing the scale of gold smuggling operations through Karippur airport, located in Malappuram district.
(Left) RTI plea filed by Raju Vazhakkala (right) Kerala police's response
Interestingly, in response to Vazhakkala’s request for month-wise details of gold confiscated and people arrested in Malappuram since 2023, the authorities stated that the data is not available in a structured format. According to the Kerala Police website, 41 (out of the total of 61) gold smuggling cases in 2023 were registered in Malappuram, with 25 more cases registered in the district in 2024. However, the RTI response from the police indicated that only two arrests had been made in the district since January 2023. “That is contradictory statistics,” says Vazhakkala.
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Notably, in an earlier RTI filed by Vazhakkala seeking the number of arrests and the amount of gold confiscated from Malappuram in 2022, the police provided a more detailed response. According to that RTI, 72.816kg of gold was confiscated and 31 arrests were made, including one woman.
"The police also provided month-wise data on gold confiscation and arrests for 2022. However, when I asked the same questions for the period from January 2023 onward, the response was that the data was not collected month-wise. So, I have filed an appeal," says Vazhakkala. The RTI responses suggest that there have been no fatalities related to gold smuggling operations in Malappuram since 2022.
