The Customs on Friday arrested four persons in connection with the alleged smuggling of 1.60 kg of hashish, valued at ₹1.70 crore, through the Cochin international airport in January this year. The arrested are Rafeeq, Shafeeq aka Shan, and Harris from Manjeri and Jamsheer Ali from Malappuram. They surrendered before Customs officials following which their arrests were recorded. They were produced in court and remanded in 14-day judicial custody.
“The relentless follow-up action helped us identify all the four accused even as the High Court dismissed the anticipatory bail application of Jamsheer Ali and directed him to surrender before the inquiry officer of the Air Customs Intelligence. They were left with no other alternative but to surrender leading to their arrest,” said Sumit Kumar, Customs Commissioner.
On January 26, the Air Customs Intelligence at the airport had arrested one Mubashir from Kondotty in Malappuram after hashish was found hidden in his trolley bag. On interrogation, he said the bag was arranged by Rafeeq who had offered him a job at a shop in Qatar.
He was recruited as a carrier by Shafeeq, while Harris, a friend of Rafeeq, who drove him to the Kochi airport, handed over the bag, air ticket, and visa to him. Harris received the bag and travel documents from Jamsheer Ali, Mubashir reportedly confessed.
All four of them had gone into hiding as soon as the carrier was arrested. Harris had gone to Qatar, Rafeeq to Tamil Nadu, and Jamsheer Ali and Shafeeq went to Bengaluru.
Mr. Kumar said Rafeeq had coordinated the entire operation on the direction of one Yasif who is running a business in Qatar and who had originally offered the job to Mubashir. Jamsheer Ali sourced the funding from Yasif and arranged for the transportation of the trolley bag containing Hashish from Kasaragod to Manjeri. The bag and travel documents were handed over to Harris who is an autorickshaw driver in Manjeri town on Yasif’s instructions. “Yasif continues to hide in Qatar, and we will nab him as well very shortly,” Mr. Kumar said.
