Kochi: Koduvally Municipal Councillor Karat Faisal, taken into custody by the Customs for his alleged involvement in the gold smuggling case, was released on Friday.
Faisal, who was released after the interrogation, has been asked to present himself to the Customs again after two weeks.
The councillor of the Koduvally Municipality in Kozhikode district was taken into custody at 4am on Thursday morning after a raid at his house. Some important documents were also seized during the raid.
The Customs department considers Faisal to be the kingpin of the gold smuggling racket. Customs believes that he played a key role in selling the 80 kilograms of gold which reached Kerala through the diplomatic channel. He is also considered to be a major financier of the gold smuggling racket.
Faizal's involvement in the crime was reportedly revealed by accused K T Ramees, who is in the Customs' custody.
On 5 July 2020, 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was seized by Customs at Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic bag that was meant to be delivered to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
A multi-agency probe was initiated and it soon unearthed worrying tentacles into offices of Kerala government. Key accused P S Sarith, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair were arrested shortly after. M Sivasankar, the principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was suspended and removed from the post after preliminary inquiry confirmed that he had links with Swapna Suresh, one of the accused.
The National Investigation Agency, which took over the probe on the directive of the Union Home Ministry, said that the proceeds of smuggling could be used to fund terror activities.
