Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram/Malappuram: A Malappuram native arrested over the gold smuggling busted at the Trivandrum International Airport earlier this month is a history-sheeter.
K T Ramees, a resident of Vettattur Kappu in Perinthalmanna, has been linked to several smuggling cases reported from various airports in Kerala since 2014. He was also accused of smuggling parts of rifles along with air guns in 2019. He was even booked for poaching earlier.
Ramees was an accused in the case pertaining to the 17.5kg gold seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) from the Kozhikode airport in 2015. Though he was remanded, he was not slapped with the COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act) due to lack of evidence.
His name had also cropped up when 3.5 kg gold was seized at Thiruvananthapuram and 2kg gold in Kozhikode in 2014.
He has been associated with Sandeep Nair, an accused in the recent gold smuggling case, since a long while.
Sarith Kumar, the first accused in the gold smuggling case, had told investigators that Ramees was familiar with ways to exchange smuggled gold.
He was nabbed by the Customs over the latest case on Sunday. He was arrested from his house at Perinthalmanna around 3 am on Sunday along with the help of the Intelligence Bureau. He was questioned the entire day and the arrest was recorded by night.
The officers also seized from his home several documents related to bank transactions and travel. They also checked his laptop.
The 2014 case
The Customs had checked the baggage of a passenger, named Ibrahim Kutty, and found the gold hidden in an electronic appliance.
Ibrahim Kutty received phone calls from Ramees and Sandeep as he was detained.
Sandeep had accompanied Ibrahim Kutty on the Thiruvananthapuram flight. Ibrahim Kutty had claimed that gold was hidden in Sandeep's bag too. However, Sandeep had left the airport by then. It later emerged that Ramees had booked the flight tickets of both Sandeep and Ibrahim Kutty.
Though Ramees was questioned by the Customs when he returned home from Dubai, he escaped as there was no evidence against him.
The NIA, which is currently probing the latest smuggling case, has collected all details of the 2014 case from the Customs.
The rifle case
The Customs had seized six air guns from Ramees when he arrived at the Kochi airport from Dubai on November 8, 2019. The Air Customs Intelligence unit had then seized parts of air rifles, worth Rs 9 lakh.
Though the Customs had registered a case, a charge-sheet could not be filed as the state police did not submit the ballistic report even after six months.
Though three official letters were sent, no response was given. The Customs suspect that action is being delayed in the rifle case due to Ramees’ links with higher-ups.
After his name cropped up in the recent gold smuggling case, the report was sought again four days ago and a reply was given that parts of 13 rifles were found.
Ramees also had a bill showing that the rifles were bought in the name of a rifle club in Palakkad. The club authorities said that Ramees was part of the club but he was not tasked with bringing in rifles. The club later issued a show-cause notice to Ramees.
Ramees was also named as an accused in a deer poaching case at Walayar in 2014 but could not be nabbed.
The Customs had seized 30kg gold, worth Rs 13.5 crore, from a diplomatic baggage in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5. The Union Home Ministry had directed the NIA to take over the probe last week considering the likely links of the smugglers to terror financiers.
