Thamarassery: The visuals of NRI businessman Shafi being abducted in a white car has been caught on CCTV. The vehicle number however, is not clear in the footage.
Shafi, an expatriate based in Thamarassery and his wife Seniya were abducted from their home three days ago. While Shafi is still missing, the kidnappers pushed his wife, Seniya, out of the car barely 150 metres from their house.
Seniya said the abductors arrived in a white Maruti Swift with their faces covered. Some parts of the weapons used by the group were found from the couples' courtyard.
According to the police, the expatriate was taken to Wayanad. He was in Wayanad till Saturday. He was taken to Karipur following this. He could not be traced beyond this point.
Part of hawala transactions
Meanwhile, the police have received information that Shafi and his abductors were involved in hawala transactions. Senior police officials have arrived at the Thamarassery police station.
The police uncovered the role of a gold smuggling gang in the abduction while questioning two persons in the custody of the investigation team. In the interrogation conducted by Vadakara Rural SP, the accused have admitted that gold smuggling and hawala transactions were the reason for the dispute.
According to their statement, Shafi has connections with a gold smuggling cartel based in Saudi Arabia. He allegedly cheated his accomplices by not paying them for hawala transactions.
It is alleged that Shafi and his gang stole around 300 kg of gold from a Kunnamangalam native and airport cargo employee three years ago. However, Shafi and his brother Noufal did not give their share to the gold smugglers.
After Shafi reached Dubai, he did a hawala transaction with Koduvalli native Sally. But he still owes latter around Rs1.5 crore from the deal.
Sally and his friends came to Shafi's house and threatened him a month ago due to this reason.
It is alleged that Shafi was abducted as the police did not take the matter seriously despite the filing of a complaint. Shafi had filed a police complaint against Sally and four others for threatening him due to issues about the Rs 1.5 crore transaction between them. Based on the complaint two of the accused were arrested, slapped minor charges and interrogated.
The investigation is also being extended to those abroad. The police are also investigating whether the gangs that were arrested earlier in connection with gold smuggling in Koduvalli are behind Shafi's abduction.
