KOCHI: Gold ornament workshops in Thrissur have come under the scanner of the Customs, which is probing the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, over their alleged links with the gang involved in the latest case.It is suspected the accused in the case supplied the gold that was smuggled using diplomatic channel earlier to agents associated with the workshops.
The probe team also believes the same gang has links with the seizure of 123kg of gold in October last year.Thrissur has over 2,000 workshops that make gold ornaments and supply it to most jewellers. Almost 80 per cent of the gold ornaments sold in the state are made in Thrissur and most medium and small-scale jewellery shops in Kerala rely on the workshops. “The gold smuggled from Thiruvananthapuram came to K T Rameez and Jalaal who supplied it to agents associated with workshops in Thrissur. From there, the smuggled gold was converted into ornaments and reached jewellers. We are collecting more information,” said a source.
In a massive operation involving half of its officers in the state, the Customs had, in October last year, busted a gang that collected and supplied gold to jewellers in Tamil Nadu. As much as 123kg of gold, `2 crore and $1,900 were seized while 15 people were arrested. It was the biggest gold haul in the state.
“The gold seized then had come from jewellers in Tamil Nadu and was found stocked in nearly 30 houses. We suspect some agents in the case have links with the accused in the Thiruvananthapuram smuggling case,” said a source.Customs officers of Kerala have also reached out to their counterparts in Tamil Nadu to check whether the gold smuggled through Thiruvananthapuram airport earlier reached jewellers in Tamil Nadu. “It requires further investigation,” said a source.