Fazil Fareed, one of the prime suspects in the Kerala gold smuggling scandal was arrested by the Dubai police on Sunday (July 19). He is expected to be extradited to India soon.
The Interpol had issued a notice to Dubai Police to nab Fazil Fareed.
Customs officials have discovered hawala trail in the Kerala gold smuggling case. They moved to track down the network on Friday and have fast-tracked the investigation on those who are suspected to have connections to the illegal smuggling of gold from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
They inspected the house of Fazil Fareed, who was arrested in Dubai on Sunday. He is suspected to be one of the kingpins in the operation. His accomplices too are now in judicial custody and are suspected to have been the source behind the money that founded this operation. A jewelry shop owner and other possible links to this are under the radar of an unknown proscribed fundamentalist outfit.
Investigations have revealed that this money was sent to Dubai from Kerala via an illegal hawala trail and that the operations could possibly have Hyderabad as its headquarters. They had apparently used ground money transfer to escape bank-related procedures. The funds sent to Dubai were used to purchase gold and convert it into secret cargo shipments that could be sent to the Consulate address to prevent suspicion. Thanks to a tip received by the Customs, this racket was nabbed. The officials are trying to estimate how much contraband gold has been illegally imported into India by means of smuggling them in diplomatic cargo. The roles of these behind the scenes hawala operators could have been to send cash to finance terrorist activities, in addition to laundering proceedings from illegal activities.
Customs officials also affirmed that the return of a consulate official to the UAE was not connected to the case and denied any involvement in the crime reported The Hindu.