Muvattupuzha: Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Ali Ibrahim landed in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) looking into the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case due to their close relationship to KT Ramees, the key link in the case, and his accomplice AM Jalal.
The two were the ones who sold the smuggled gold and converted it into cash. They also helped Jalal get legal help and surrender to the Customs Department.
Muhammed Ali was earlier charge-sheeted by the Kerala Police with chopping the palm of a professor in 2010 but got acquitted after trial in 2015.
The NIA is investigating if the money they made by selling gold was routed to extremist organisations.
They are said to be a part of the Muvattupuzha racket linked to gold smuggling and hawala transactions.
The sources of the wealth of the two, who led a lavish life without any particular job, had come under investigation before, too.
Muhammad Ali Ibrahim is also the driver of the arrested Jalal.
When the two came to know that they would come under NIA’s scrutiny, they approached a lawyer in Ernakulam. They were taken into custody by an NIA team when they were on their way back from the lawyer.
NIA may approach court to extend Ramees' custody
The NIA is likely to approach court with an application for extending the custody of K T Ramees, who is said to be the mastermind of the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case.
Ramees’ current custody ends on Tuesday.
The court will also examine the NIA’s case diary to ascertain if the arguments of the defendants that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act cannot be applied in the case hold true.
Meanwhile, during raids in Malappuram, Muvattupuzha and Perinthalmanna on Sunday, the NIA seized two computer hard disks, a tab, wight mobile phones, six SIM cards, a digital video recorder, five DVDs, bank deposit documents, credit cards, travel documents and identity cards and sent them for examination.
