KOCHI: Jibin K Basheer, the civil police officer who helped smuggle 1,500 kg of gold through the Cochin International Airport, is believed to be posted at the airport immigration wing at the behest of his relative and gang leader A N Noushad.
Customs officials said Noushad was the real master brain behind the smuggling series, which came to light after a 48-year-old man was arrested at the airport with 13.5 kg of gold. In the follow-up investigation so far, 32 men have been arrested, including Jibin’s brother Nibin and father Basheer.
“They can all be traced to Noushad in one way or the other,” said an officer.
Noushad runs a currency exchange unit and a money lending agency. “Those are legitimate agencies with proper licenses. But we believe he must have been diverting their resources to smuggle gold from UAE. Noushad is a tough nut to crack,” said a Customs official who has been interrogating him after his arrest in May.
While Jibin, who was arrested along with his brother Nibin and father Basheer, sung like a canary, Noushad always brandished an unbreakable attitude.
“He has never given us anything that we didn’t know. He has no qualms in repeating that his was innocent, unless we show him proofs that incriminate him,” said the officer.
The Customs has not yet estimated the extent of fortune Noushad has made through smuggling. His investments are very likely to be in benami names, but its believed to be running into crores of rupees.
As far as the customs officials know, Noushad kept two channels active to smuggle gold into Kerala. One through posting his man at the immigration wing of the airport and the other through infiltrating into a flight-handling agency working on the airport.
At the immigration wing, Jibin took care of handling Noushad’s carriers. They would be trained to deposit the gold they bring inside an air-conditioning machine installed at the airport bathroom. Jibin would later retrieve them and slip them out of the airport hidden inside a specially designed waist belt. Once outside, he would keep the gold in his car, which will be taken out by his brother Nibin.
According to officials, Jibin did this almost every day he was on duty for the past one year. And sometime he went twice, carrying 8 kg of gold in one go.
The other channel was the Bird Worldwide Flight Service, a private agency that handled passengers after the flights touched down at airport. Noushad’s carriers would drop the gold inside ferry buses. Since there are no customs officials in the domestic terminal, the BWF staff on Noushad’s pay roll will collect the gold and slip out through the domestic terminal.