US citizens arrested with gold at BIA:

Smuggling ring or genuine travellers?

By Manjula FERNANDO

The couple was approaching the immigration counter at the BIA after the airline check-in, when they were hailed by Customs officials at 10.30 pm on Sunday, October 16.

The old woman and the middle aged person who claimed to be her son, inquired as to what the problem was.

The Customs had been alerted and the officers informed they wanted to check the couple’s baggage. The two passengers appeared unrattled and despite the confrontation did not react like ‘offenders’.

They were taken to the Customs desk in the far corner where their bags were placed before them and opened. What was inside made headlines in the local newspapers the next day.

In the bags there were stacks of gold in many forms; coins, jewellery and bars, and quite a significant amount of foreign currency worth over Rs. 120 million in total. They were not concealed but out in the open neatly packed to see by anyone who happened to open the bags. The two passengers who were to board a plane bound for Kuala Lumpur that night insisted that it was their own wealth, the wealth that his father, who passed away recently, had left behind. He and his mother had collected all the wealth and sold their property and were travelling the world to find a peaceful place to settle down.

This was the story the Customs was told.

The duo, 73-year-old woman and the 43-year-old male, were Korean born US citizens. Being repeatedly questioned about his vocation the man claimed although reluctantly, he was a writer of philosophy. “I have no issue in accepting their story but there is no proof that they brought the valuables with them when they arrived in Sri Lanka from India on October 12,” Customs Deputy Director M.R. Rajmohan who heads the inquiry told Sunday Observer.

They have not declared the goods at the Customs counter on arrival. The goods were forfeited by the Customs after the initial inquiry, excluding the gold coins which were in bulk. The passengers somehow had the sense to declare the gold coins at the departure terminal. But the coins, weighing 17 kilos and valued Rs.108.2 million, had been detained pending clearance from the Controller of Excise. “If the Excise controller gives a clearance that they need not possess a permit to carry the haul of coins, they will be released to the passengers,” the Deputy Director said.

The rest of the valuables, the gold jewellery and bars worth Rs.9.7 million and the foreign currency, was forfeited and a penalty to the tune of Rs.37.1 million (three times the value of goods) was imposed for violating Exchange Control Act and the Customs Ordinance.

The penalty, according to the Inquiring Officer, is subject to mitigation by the Director General of Customs if an appeal is made by the offender before October 31. The suspect passenger had been remanded till October 31 for non- payment of penalty.

He had said he was unable to pay the penalty. The woman was released although she had insisted that she be kept with her son. “We suspect whether the couple could be connected to the infamous gold coin pyramid scam. The coins did not appear to be collector’s items,” The Deputy Director said. When they found them in the bags, the coins were in ten neatly packed small canisters. There were coins of European and Canadian make. The two passengers possessed five year multiple entry visas to both India and Sri Lanka.

“This is another point we are concerned about and also the fact as to why they did not want to get help from the US mission in Colombo.” The suspect male has also rejected an advice to seek professional help from a lawyer.

The Deputy Director said: “There are several ways they can mitigate the penalty or reverse the forfeiture.

The Customs Director General and the Minister of Finance could intervene but we have to be sure that these people are not gold smugglers or those engaged in money laundering.” The suspect passenger will be produced before Negombo Magistrate’s Court on October 31 by which date he will be expected to settle the penalty or face a fresh court case by the Customs.

Under the Customs Ordinance a minimum of 15 years jail term can be imposed for smuggling over 3 kg of gold. The Government relaxed restrictions on gem and jewellery in 2006 to curb the menace of smuggling but the non declaration of such goods is still an offence under Sri Lankan law.