KOCHI: The CBI on Friday carried out searches at the houses of three persons, including a Customs havildar who was facilitating gold smuggling through Cochin International Airport.
The CBI recently registered a case against Francis C X, havildar of Customs, Adnan Khalid and Faisal P A of Muvattupuzha after the DRI intercepted them with 3 kg gold on March 1 at CIAL.
According to CBI officials, searches were held at the residences of the accused in Kochi and Muvattupuzha. We have recovered electronic equipment, including mobiles and pen drives, along with documents. The accused persons would be taken into custody for further investigation.
On March 1, Adnan Khalid who arrived at CIAL from Dubai smuggled 3 kg gold valued at `1.01 crore. At CIAL, Adnan handed over the gold to Francis at the gents toilet near CIAL arrival area.
Francis hid the gold bars inside the innerwear.
But he was intercepted by a DRI team at CIAL. In the interrogation, the involvement of Faizal was revealed. Faizal earlier faced COFEPOSA detention after his involvement was revealed in the gold smuggling case.
According to the CBI, Francis was having ‘off duty’ and he entered the airport using his official ID card.
The investigation revealed that Francis received `2 lakh from smuggling the gold bars and he was involved in similar acts previously.