The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth ₹1.84 crore in connection with a gold smuggling case in Kerala.
The properties include a residential house, an apartment and a land parcel in Kozhikode held in the name of P.C. Sabana (wife of Faiz T.K.), Subair Y.M. and Abdul Rahim, besides over ₹85.15 lakh in a fixed deposit in the name of Ashraf Kallunkal with the Federal Bank Limited’s Kozhikode branch.
The ED probe is based on an FIR and the charge-sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against former Deputy Commissioner Customs C. Madhavan, P.P. Sunil Kumar, Faiz, Ashraf, Subair, Abdul Rahim and others.
The Customs authorities had on March 19, 2013, arrested two women carriers named Arifa Haris and Asifa Veera and seized 20 kg of gold from them. They had illegally transported 56 kg of gold from Dubai to Kochi during August-September, 2013, as alleged.
The gold consignments were sent allegedly by Faiz T.K. using his contacts with the Customs officers, for Ashraf Kallunkal, a prominent businessman of Kerala. According to the CBI charge-sheet, by smuggling gold worth ₹17.86 crore, the syndicate caused a loss of ₹1.83 crore in the form of Customs duty.
The ED probe revealed that Faiz and Ashraf were the alleged masterminds behind the gold smuggling. “Faiz picked the women carriers staying in Dubai with their family, who were in need of money, and executed the smuggling. Accused Ashraf was the main investor in the gold purchase and smuggled the same to India with the help of Faiz, who had good relationship with many prominent persons in Kerala,” said the agency.
Ashraf and Faiz allegedly accumulated the profit in Dubai and later transferred the funds to their accounts in India. The proceeds were invested in immovable and movable properties. The money trail also revealed the role of Abdul Rahim and Ashraf’s brother Subair, who received the gold.
