Most members of gangs involved in gold and hawala smuggling as well as robbing the carriers have gone underground in the wake of the shocking accident at Ramanattukara that killed five youngsters during a pre-dawn chase on Monday.
The police intensified the investigation into the incident, which took them to multiple gangs engaged in gold and hawala smuggling and other related criminal activities.
Although Kondotty Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashraf K. is leading the investigation,
policemen from different stations in Malappuram, Kozhikode and Palakkad districts were involved in the inquiry.
Shibu P., station house officer of Karipur police station, said that hyped up stories spread by different wings of mass media had helped several members of the robbery and gold smuggling gangs escape.
Remanded in custody
Meanwhile, eight persons arrested in connection with the Monday morning incident were remanded in judicial custody. They were Saleem P, 29, Mubashir M., 27, Mohammed Fayas, 29, Suhail M., 24, Fasal C., 24, Mustafa V., 26, Shanid K.V., 32, and Hassan P.P., 35. They were from different places in the eastern part of Palakkad district.
They were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 399 for making preparation to commit dacoity. The police said they could not be slapped any other sections as they had not been directly involved. However, according to the police, IPC 399 was a serious offence and could invoke a punishment of up to ten years in jail along with a fine.
The police suspect that one of the two persons who had escaped from the accident site in a vehicle was a heavyweight gangster. Police sources said that the involvement of some notorious gangsters from central Kerala was also suspected.
Anas Perumbavoor is one such gangster, who had stayed at Cherpulassery for several weeks and had close links with the gangs in Cherpulassery.
However, the police could not establish his involvement in the attempted robbery at Ramanattukara.
One of the three vehicles from Cherpulassery met with the fatal accident on the National Highway 966 at Ramanattukara while chasing a car which was suspected to have been carrying gold smuggled in from Dubai.
However, the intelligence wing of the Customs at the Karipur airport had seized 2.33 kg gold worth more than ₹1.07 crore from a passenger named Mohammed Shafeek, who arrived from Dubai by an early morning flight. Customs sources said that that gold was meant to have been handed over to a team from Kannur.
According to the police, the chase along the NH 966 between Karipur and Ramanattukara had taken place with a misplaced notion that a group had been carrying the smuggled-in gold.
