'File 8/2 Smuggling of Gold' [‎126r] (251/488)

In the Office of the Collector of Central Excises and Salt
Revenue, Cathedral P .0 ., Madras.
Order No.P.Dls.351-Cus./43 dated 2 «th May 1943.
i
Passed by the Collector of Central Excises & Salt Revenue,
Madras.
ORDER (ORIGINAL)
h.3. (l) This copy is granted free of charge for the private
use of the person to whom it is issued.
(2) An appeal against this order lies to Central Board
of Revenue, Simla, rithin three months of its date.
Any appeal should bear a Court-fee stamp of ^ .4/-
and must be accompanied by ihis copy, or another
copy of the order; such copy must bear the Court-
fee stamp of Annas 12 prescribed under Schedule I,
item 6 , of the Court Fees Act of 1870.
Subject:
Export - Restricted goods (Sovereigns etc.) -
Seizures at Calicut and Palghat - Confiscation
and Penalty.
Read:
The records of the case.
• • •
ORDER.
The West Coast of the Madras Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. and particularly
the area North and South of Calicut is ideally suited to smug-
gl: ■'g. There are rivers and deep indentations up and down the
coait, while a good road runs along the coast not far from, the
_ Villages and small towns are scattered here and there
within easy reach of the sea 9 and there is ample cover of trees
and jungle tb *oughout one area. The Malabar coast has an old
historical connection ^ r ith the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and this connection
w is exemplified by the extensive business in exporting local a
produce to Arabian ports which is now carried on, based at/"the n
port of Calicut. In addition to the legitimate trade in local
produce, tamarind, wood, etc., the opportunities for contraband
traffic provided by the geography of the coast have been utilised
tor traffic in restricted or prohibited goods* since the out
break of ^ar there has been reason so suspect a connection with
che enemy, possibly an underground route by way of Iraq.
2. In ,the open season of 1941 towards the end of the sea
son information began to con^ through to the Collector of Salt
uevenue, Madras, on the smuggling of sovereigns and other
goods from India via the West Coast. Action was
taken during the closed season to strengthen the preventive
work uf the Salt Department on that coast and the ^cope of the
^f^ ent ; S WOrk was greatly increased in the open season of
9x1-42. But effective control over the movement of craft on
tiie coast after they had left port was not established since
it was not possible to organise a sea patrol. Very little in-
rormation was rece.v/ed during that season in respect of gold,
° /ip is possible that the course of the war and in particular
one threat or invasion to India caused the falling off, which
was apparent in contraband traffic, at least as much as the
activities of the Sa*lt Department.