KOCHI: The decision to shift operation of the wide-bodied and midsize aircraft to the Cochin International Airport from the Calicut airport, as a makeshift arrangement in connection with the re-carpeting work at Calicut, has put the Customs officials on their toes.
With the majority of the flight services being shifted to the Kochi airport, the overburdened Customs officials are struggling to tackle the rising incidents of gold smuggling. According to Customs officials, Calicut airport is the hub of gold smuggling in the State, where 84 gold smuggling cases were registered in the 2014-15 financial year. The Customs officials arrested 39 persons and seized 102.49 kg of gold, valued around Rs 2937.37 crore in the open market, during the year.
“With flight operations being shifted to Kochi, the workload of the Customs officials has almost doubled in Kochi, where only 78 officials are currently deployed,” said officials.
“Since some of the services were launched on May 1, we are monitoring the situation. If the situation demands, more preventive officials will be redeployed from the other locations in the State,” said Commissioner of Customs, Kochi, K N Raghavan.
“The shortage of Customs personnel has been hampering the enforcement measures of the Customs Department in the State, which is facing a staff shortage of 40-50 per cent,” said Customs officials.
In the peak time, around 37 flights land in the Kochi airport. With the limited staff strength, the Customs Department finds it difficult to examine baggage and frisk passengers in detail. However, we are doing our level best, and are using every equipment available,” said Raghavan.
“The Kochi airport registered a record footfall of 64.5 lakh passengers in the 2014-15 fiscal year, making it the busiest terminal in the State. With the additional flights, passenger movement at the airport is expected to reach an all-time record,” say airport officials.
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