Kochi: The Customs Department on Thursday arrested three more in the gold smuggling case.
The arrests of Saithalavi, a resident of Vengara in Malappuram, Anwar from Manjeri and Shamju of Eranhikkal in Kozhikode were registered following the inputs of KT Ramees, a suspected gold smuggler.
The Customs which busted a major gold smuggling racket in the Kerala capital is now probing the involvement of hawala operators in the case. It is suspected that some hawala operators had also channeled their money for carrying out the smuggling.
A few people already arrested by the Customs in connection with the case were found to be hawala operators or had links to the syndicate.
Soon after nabbing KT Ramees, the fourth accused in the case, the Customs had arrested three others: Jalaal Muhammed (36) of Aryankala, Companypadi in Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam; P Mohammad Shafi (37) of Pannikottil, Ayikkarappadi, Malappuram; and Hamjad Ali (51) of Babu Nivas, 1st Mile, Kaloth, Kondotty.
Ramees had given leads about the three. The trio had either invested money for the smuggling operations or had helped Ramees sell smuggled gold, their remand report said.
Another suspect Abdu, native of Kozhichena in Malappuram, is absconding. A few others are also likely to be taken into custody soon.
The Customs suspects that certain firms could have channelled their funds into gold smuggling via the hawala operators. Earlier too, they had reportedly funnelled money into smuggling.
The Customs initiated a probe after 30kg gold was seized from a diplomatic baggage in Thiruvananthapuram. Three of the accused P S Sarith, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair have already been arrested, while another accused Faisal Fareed is still at large.
Sandeep-hawala link likely
The Customs suspects Sandeep's links to the hawala syndicate. The agency had found out that he himself had come up with the idea of smuggling gold through the diplomatic channel.
Hawala operators had reportedly taken part in the discussions led by Sandeep at a hotel room in Thiruvananthapuram.
It was also revealed that the money from the sale of smuggled gold reached Faisal Fareed in Dubai via hawala channels.
Crowd funding
The entire money required to buy gold is transferred through hawala to the UAE.
According to the Customs, the gold smuggling gangs consist of several layers and include financiers who raise the money to buy gold from the Middle East. Then there is another section who transports it to the various end users - which are the jewellers in the state and the vital clogs are those who coordinate the entire operations with precision.
At the end of the successful operation, everyone involved gets their due share and Customs have now found out this particular gang in the month of June alone has smuggled 70 kg of gold on three different occasions.
Swapna and Sarith, the key accused in the case, are carriers and using their closeness which was built up when the duo worked at the UAE Consulate and her close links with former IT secretary M Sivasankar also came as a boon.
Now all eyes are on the Customs who is all set to call Sivasankar again, as his mobile phone has already been confiscated and sent for scientific examination.
The NIA is also expected to call in Sivasankar and as and when it happens, all the preliminary links would be established to reign in the fledging gold smuggling racket, but this is the first time, where higher ups directly or indirectly appeared to have a role.