In a shocking development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found that one of the accused in the sensational Kerala gold smuggling case has connections with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, reports IANS.

The probe conducted by the NIA revealed that the accused has traveled to Tanzania, where Dawood Ibrahim has vast networks, and alleged weapon trading business. NIA submitted their findings to the special court on Wednesday.

“K.T. Ramees and M. Sharafuddin visited Tanzania on several occasions and met one of Dawood’s close aide Feroze ‘Oasis’ and discussed ways to smuggle firearms into the country,” a top NIA official told IANS.

According to NIA, KT Ramees initially visited Tanzania in 2016 to begin a diamond business. Later, he smuggled one kilogram gold from Tanzania to the UAE in 2017. The NIA official revealed that Ramees was caught at the Kozhikode airport in 2019 with 13 smuggled revolvers.

Upon questioning, Ramees had claimed that he bought the revolvers for Palakkad Rifle Club. However, the charge was denied by the Rifle Club authorities.

Besides the NIA, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Customs, and Income Tax are also probing the Kerala gold smuggling case. Recently, ED has questioned Kerala Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel in connection with the alleged import of holy books and dry dates from the UAW.

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The customs informed the court that they went to interrogate Ramees about his relation with Mohammed Anoop, who was earlier arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru drug case.

The cutoms also sought the permission to get the digital evidence collected from Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the key accused in the case. The Customs in its petition filed at the NIA Court said some of the digital evidence collected by the NIA from accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair is vital for its probe.

The court after hearing the Customs sought the NIA opinion on the matter. The NIA will file a report in this regard next week.

The agency had seized around six digital devices including their mobile phones and laptops, after NIA arrested Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on July 11.

The contents of these digital devices were retrieved by C-DAC (Center for Development of Advanced Computing) in Thiruvananthapuram.

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The FIR was registered against Sarith Kumar, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair and Fazil Fareed, the four persons allegedly involved in the case.

The case involved the smuggling of 30 kg of gold addressed to a Middle East consulate in Thiruvananthapuram via the Trivandrum airport.

The NIA has charged them with offenses under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act(UAPA). The sections deal with raising funds for terrorist acts and conspiracy for terrorist activities. The NIA will probe whether the gold smuggling was linked to activities that threaten national security.

According to the NIA, the money from the smuggled gold can be linked to be used for terrorist activities. It will be one of the first cases in the NIA’s history in which the agency is entrusted to probe gold smuggling activities.

Meanwhile, the customs which made the seizure has started the interrogation of Sarith at their office in Kochi. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) on Thursday granted custody of him till July 15. The NIA will produce him at the NIA court after July 15.

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