KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested two persons who, it said, were close aides of KT Rameez, the mastermind behind the smuggling of gold via diplomatic channel. NIA sources said Sharafudheen KT of Perinthalmanna and Mohammad Shafeeq of Mannarkad were taken into custody from their houses and interrogated before their arrest was recorded.
“In Rameez’s absence in Kerala, the duo were assigned to would receive smuggled gold from Sandeep Nair, one of the accused in the case, after the consignment cleared the checks at the airport. They have received gold from Sandeep on five occasions. They would later deliver the consignment to persons identified by Rameez,” said an NIA official.
The agency produced Sharafudheen and Shafeeq in NIA Court here and filed a petition seeking their custody for four days. The court granted the agency three-day custody of the duo till Friday. “We have Rameez, Jalal A M, Shafi, Abdu, Sharafudheen and Shafeeq in custody and have sought custody of Mohammad Ali Ibrahim and Mohammad Ali. They are all Rameez’s associates. All of them, including Rameez, will be interrogated together to get a clear picture about people financing and buying the smuggled gold,” said an NIA officer.
NIA has decided not to seek custody of Said Alavi who was arrested last week. “He is a cancer patient and was one of the financiers in the case. We have collected all the details about his involvement in the case,” said the officer.
NIA has also arraigned Rabins Hameed of Muvattupuzha as an accused in the case. Currently in Dubai, Rabins is suspected to be the kingpin who received fund at UAE through hawala channels to procure the gold. NIA will approach the court to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.