NIA has arrested an accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case on his arrival at the Mumbai airport from Dubai.
Ratheesh, a resident of Kannur, was a member of the gang involved in smuggling huge quantities of gold from various countries into India through diplomatic channels.
He was taken into custody on arrival from Dubai on Tuesday, said an NIA spokesperson.
The NIA had intensified its search for six of the absconding gang members, including Ratheesh, and had filed charge sheets against 20 accused in 2021.
The NIA’s investigation uncovered that Ratheesh, an accomplice of the charge-sheeted accused Hamsath Abdu Salam, had gathered the illicitly smuggled gold from Thiruvananthapuram and transported it with the intention of selling it to Nandakumar in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
On July 5, 2020, a consignment of gold weighing 30 kg and valued at Rs 14.82 crores was confiscated at the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The gold had been concealed within a baggage designated for a senior diplomat stationed in the capital of Kerala.
