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 accused named Abu Yusuf was arrested at around 11.30 PM on August 21 from Delhi’s Dhala Kuan area. According to police officials, two pressure cookers turned into IEDs, with about 15 kilograms explosives were recovered from the alleged terrorist. Officers also seized a pistol from Yusuf.

Police revealed that Abu Yusuf had visited several places in Delhi to execute an attack in the coming days. Security in the city has now been beefed up, and investigation officers are now trying to determine whether Abu Yusuf has any other accomplices in India.

Police officials revealed that Abu Yusuf hails from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh. During the time of his arrest, Yusuf was apparently riding a motorcycle with UP number plates.

The new arrest in Delhi comes just a few days after a doctor was arrested in Bengaluru for alleged terrorist links. Abdur Rahman, an ophthalmologist in Bengaluru was arrested after getting information from a couple who was nabbed by the police last March.

After the arrest, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out raids in properties and buildings belonging to Abdur Rahman and seized digital devices and a laptop containing crucial evidence that substantiates his link to ISIS and other extreme Islamic outfits.

#WATCH Delhi: National Security Guard (NSG) commandos carry out search operation near Buddha Jayanti Park in Ridge Road area.

One ISIS operative was arrested from the site with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), earlier today by Delhi Police Special Cell. pic.twitter.com/q1uodH5cYJ

— ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2020

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The two accused were on the run for the last six days after the Customs Department seized 30 kg of gold from an air cargo consignment in Thiruvananthapuram. They will be brought to Kochi in the early hours of Sunday, said an official. It is, however, not clear how the duo slipped out of Thiruvananthapuram, which is under a triple lockdown with an aim to contain the spread of coronavirus disease, and reached Karnataka.

The NIA had taken up the case on July 10 and filed first information reports against four persons in the case. In the FIRs, Sarith Kumar, a former employee of the consular office, who is now in the custody of the customs, is named first accused; Swapna Suresh is the second; elusive smuggling-kingpin Fazil Pareed is the third; and Suresh’s friend Sandeep Nair is the fourth accused. The FIRs were filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

It is the first time that the premier agency, which handles cases related to national security and terror, is investigating a gold smuggling case. In the FIRs, NIA said the accused were part of a well-entrenched smuggling racket.

The Kerala Police had set up a special group to arrest Swapna Suresh and Sandeep on July 11. The DGP had entrusted a special investigation team under the leadership of Kochi City Deputy Police Commissioner G. Poonkuzhali with the task of apprehending the accused.

The Customs authorities had requested the Kochi City Police Commissioner all help for the arrest of the suspects in an email by afternoon.
It is then that the NIA team arrested the accused in Bangalore.

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