NIA arrests six more accused in Kerala gold smuggling case
New Delhi/UNI: The anti-terror probe agency NIA on Sunday made six fresh arrests and has conducted searches at six locations in connection with Kerala gold smuggling case in the past one week.
With these arrests the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has so far arrested 10 accused persons in the case.
“Today the NIA personnel conducted searches at six places including residences of accused persons in the case Jalal AM and Rabins Hameed in Ernakulam and Ramees KT, Mohammed Shafi, Said Alavi and Abdu PT in Malappuram district', the probe agency said in a statement here.
During the searches conducted on Sunday, two hard disks, one tablet PC, eight mobile phones, six SIM cards, one Digital Video Recorder and five DVDs were seized besides various documents including bank passbooks, credit and debit cards, travel documents and identity documents of the accused, the official statement said.
The agency is continuing its investigation in the case vigorously, the NIA officials said, adding that two accused Jalal A M of Ernakulam district and Said Alavi E of Malappuram district on July 30 ‘for conspiring with already arrested accused Ramees KT in smuggling gold through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram.
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 that on August 1, the probe agency arrested another two accused persons Muhammad Ali Ebrahim and Muhammad Ali, both residents of Ernakulam district, after investigation revealed that they were also a part of the conspiracy besides aiding and assisting arrested accused Jalal A M in collecting the smuggled gold from Ramees KT at Thiruvananthapuram and distributing the contraband among other conspirators.
The investigation further revealed that Muhammad Ali is a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and was earlier charge-sheeted by Kerala Police in a case relating to palm chopping of a professor, but got acquitted after trial in 2015.
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