Customs officials have detained an export consignment of beach minerals booked at the Tuticorin Port after the transport permit/quantity certification document furnished by the consignor, V.V. Mineral, Thisayinvilai, was found to be fake.
While the Assistant Director of Mines, Thoothukudi district, was placed under suspension after an enquiry late on Tuesday night, the district administration ordered the seizure of the consignment for further investigation, police sources said.
The mining firm booked for export 420 tonnes of Gernet Abrasive Grit to Jebel Ali Port, Dubai, on March 8, 2017 and submitted a certificate purportedly issued by the Thoothukudi District Collector certifying the legal source of the mines with a request to allow the shipment.
However, the Customs officials sensed foul play taking into account the format of the certificate which neither had the designation nor official stamp of the District Collector nor the official who signed the paper.
The Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Tuticorin Port, wrote to the District Collector on March 13, 2017, seeking his confirmation on the genuineness of the certificate.
The next day, the Customs official received a reply from the “Office of the District Collector” which said the certificate containing details of the transport permit and quantity was a genuine one. Acting on specific information that the District Collector was not informed of the export of beach minerals and that the certificate was issued by the Assistant Director of Mines without his knowledge, an enquiry was ordered by the Commissioner of Geology and Mines. After a preliminary enquiry, the official was placed under suspension and orders issued for the seizure of the consignment of beach minerals booked to Dubai, the sources said.
Alert to ports
The intervention of Customs officials comes in the backdrop of a letter written by Tirunelveli District Collector M. Karunakaran to ports in Southern India about the ban on mining of beach sand minerals with effect from September 2013. The government had taken steps to freeze the entire mining and stock of processed and unprocessed minerals to enable the inspection authorities to assess the quantum of illegally mined material.
Mr. Karunakaran said the government had ordered the stoppage of all transport permits and hence licence holders and illegal miners had no locus standi to export beach sand minerals without valid transport permits.
