Three gangs had reached the Karipur airport on June 21 to grab the 2.3 kg of gold worth ₹11 crore smuggled in a coffeemaker from Dubai by Mohammed Shafeeque, a Malappuram native, according to the Customs (Preventive), Kochi.
The investigating team revealed the operation of multiple gangs in the smuggling racket while producing Shafeeque before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences), Ernakulam after his custody period ended on Monday.
The accused said a number of persons from Koduvally, Kozhikode and Kannur were involved in a well-organised smuggling network based in Dubai. The members of one gang recruit men from other gangs as informers. These gangs then deploy criminals to abduct the carrier and physically assault him to steal the smuggled gold. In this case, a gang from Koduvally and two gangs from Kannur were involved.
‘Threat to life’
Shafeeque told the Customs that he had faced threat to his life from the Cherupulassery gang (that was hired by the Koduvally gang to help it seize gold from Shafeeque) while he was in judicial custody at the Manjeri sub jail. He identified from a photo the person who had threatened him against disclosing anything to the probe team. Shafeeque was later shifted to the sub jail in Kakkanad.
One gang was reportedly led by Yousuf of Kannur and they had reached the airport to seize the gold from Shafeeque. The other two gangs were led by Arjun Ayanki, a Kannur native and former member of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, and Soofiyan, a Koduvally native.
Shafeeque stated that Arjun had promised him protection as he had the backing of ‘Kodi’ Suni and Shafi K.K., convicts in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case, against threats from the Koduvally gang. The investigators said Shafeeque was recruited by the Koduvally gang initially. Arjun later intervened and try to get hold of the gold. Yousuf’s too made a similar attempt.
Wife questioned
Meanwhile, the investigating team questioned Arjun’s wife at its office here on Monday. It had earlier obtained documents and digital evidence linking him to the racket. He was arrested by the Customs last week. The officials expect to get leads into the financial sources of Arjun from his wife. He had initially claimed that his wife’s family had helped him financially.
