So far, NIA has arrested 12 persons in connection with the case. (Representational)
The NIA has arrested two more people in connection with the Kerala gold smuggling case, officials said Tuesday.
Those arrested were identified as Sharafudeen (38), a resident of Malappuram district and Shafeeq (31) from Palakkad district.
NIA claimed their names cropped up during the interrogation of arrested accused Ramees KT, who said they were his aides. It said the decision to arrest them was taken after “their roles in the conspiracy and pursuant smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate”.
The agency produced Sharafudeen and Shafeeq on Tuesday before the NIA Special Court, Ernakulam which remanded them to four days of NIA custody.
So far, NIA has arrested 12 persons in connection with the case.
Meanwhile, a team of NIA officers is preparing to leave for the UAE to investigate the links of those arrested here and to seek the help of that country’s authorities in nabbing an accused in the case who is absconding. “We need to probe how this whole racket worked in UAE. The authorities there are equally concerned as UAE diplomatic cargo was being used for this. We are getting all cooperation from there,” an NIA officer said.
Notably, NIA has invoked terror charges in the case and suspects the network to be funding terror activties.
On Sunday, the agency had announced that it arrested six people in the case, including Popular Front of India member Muhammad Ali, who had been charged with chopping off the hand of a professor in Ernakulam district but was acquitted in 2015.