Six more arrested in gold smuggling case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 2

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today said it has made six fresh arrests and conducted searches at six locations in connection with the Kerala gold smuggling case in the past seven days. With these arrests, the agency has so far arrested 10 accused in the case.

Claiming that the agency is continuing its investigation in the case “vigorously”, the NIA officials said, two accused — Jalal AM of Ernakulam distirct and Said Alavi E of Malappuram district — were arrested on July 30 “for conspiring with already arrested accused Ramees KT” in smuggling gold through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram.

PFI member among those nabbed

The NIA investigation revealed that one of the arrested persons — Muhammad Ali — is a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and was earlier chargesheeted by the Kerala Police in a case relating to palm chopping of a professor, but was acquitted after a trial in 2015

On July 31, two more accused — Mohammed Shafi and Abdu PT, residents of Malappuram district — were arrested for playing similar roles in the crime, they said, adding on August 1, the NIA arrested another two accused — Muhammad Ali Ebrahim and Muhammad Ali, both residents of Ernakulam district — after the investigation revealed that they were also a part of the conspiracy besides aiding and assisting arrested accused Jalal AM in collecting the smuggled gold from Ramees KT at Thiruvananthapuram.

The investigation further revealed that Muhammad Ali is a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and was earlier chargesheeted by the Kerala Police in a case relating to palm chopping of a professor, but got acquitted after a trial in 2015.

“Today, the NIA personnel conducted searches at six places, including residences of accused Jalal AM and Rabins Hameed in Ernakulam and Ramees KT, Mohammed Shafi, Said Alavi and Abdu PT in Malappuram district,” said an NIA official.

During the searches, two hard disks, 1 tablet PC, eight mobile phones, six SIM cards, 1 digital video recorder and 5 DVDs were seized besides various documents, including bank passbooks, credit/debit cards, travel documents and identity documents of the accused, the officials said.