Row rages over captured smuggled sandalwood

A row has been cooked up following the bust of smuggled red sandalwood from the  Vallarpadam International Transhipment Container Terminal on Saturday between the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) authorities and the Customs authorities.

Containers landing in the Vallarppadam terminal have to be taken to private CFSs for customs inspection leaving them susceptible to tampering. Seals can be broken open and replaced within a short time giving rise to major security crises. Alleged import of fake currencies, arms, etc. are nightmares the ports have already gone through. Further relaxation of the rules are not desirable in our country.

Customs and DRI officials take the stand that government officials should have power to enter the terminal and inspect. They argue that “no” to customs inspection is a threat to the national security. In that light, the custom officials have already written to the Cochin Port Trust and DP World, the company-in-charge of the terminal, stating that if they are not permitted to inspect the goods they would withdraw their officials.

However, DP World replied that since Vallarpadam Terminal comes under SEZ, it is the discretion of the SEZ Development Commissioner to take decision concerning the customs inspection. Vallarppadam is the first SEZ in the country which operates the port-oriented business. This stand of the SEZ Development Commissioner is technically right. When the customs rules of the country were formulated, there was no SEZ in our country.

The Development Commissioner is away, leaving the Commissioner of the SEZ in Vishakhappattanam  in charge of Kochi. Allegedly, that he is not taking any proactive decision in this matter because it is not essentially his charge. To further complicate matters, the Port Trust Chairman is away too. It is looking as if the intervention of the Union Commerce Ministry is needed to resolve the impasse.

In the meantime, the follow up to Saturday's haul is going on with all cylinders blazing, with the chief accused, Anil, being arrested in Coimbatore on Sunday by Direcotrate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials. Anil has been apprehended two previous times by DRI officials before.

In addition to that, 10 tons of red sandalwood. Coconuts and salt for camouflaging the sandal were also seized from the Coimbatore warehouse. Furthermore, documents establishing the money transactions Anil had done with the Dubai lobby which handles the red sandalwood smuggling was also seized.

In the meanwhile, officials have already recalled two containers which had been sent to Dubai a couple of weeks back. Action has already been taken to bring those containers back on board the same ships without them having landed at Dubai.