A man, who stands accused of smuggling gold valued at over Rs 14 crore in 2020, was apprehended by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday. This fugitive, known as Ratheesh and reportedly a member of a criminal gang, was taken into custody upon his arrival from Dubai.
The NIA has revealed that this fugitive gang member was deeply involved in the smuggling of substantial quantities of gold into the country from various nations during the period spanning 2019 to 2020. The central investigative agency had initiated an extensive search for six suspects, including Ratheesh. The NIA had filed chargesheets against 20 individuals on January 5, 2021, in connection with the Trivandrum gold smuggling case, which stemmed from the discovery of the illicit gold.
According to the NIA's investigation, Ratheesh was associated with one of the accused in the 2021 case. Hamsath Abdu Salam, a suspect in the case, was allegedly responsible for smuggling gold from Thiruvananthapuram and delivering it for sale to an individual named Nandakumar in Coimbatore.
The NIA unravelled this syndicate after the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate at the Trivandrum International Airport discovered a cache of 30 kilograms of gold, valued at Rs 14.82 crore, in July 2020. This illicit gold was found within a piece of luggage that was addressed to a senior diplomat stationed in Thiruvananthapuram.
Currently, efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining suspects, and the NIA is conducting an in-depth investigation into the matter.
