P.A. Noushad, the 40-year-old “kingpin” of the now dismantled Muvattupuzha gold smuggling racket, went by the nickname “Cobra,” according to Customs investigators.
The moniker, copied from a wireless call sign commonly used by Commissioners of Police in Kerala, indicated Noushad’s equally important status in the network that had smuggled gold through the Nedumbassery airport with astonishing impunity during 2014-15.
A High Court judge’s refusal to review Noushad’s detention under COFEPOSA following a furtive attempt to bribe him has turned the spotlight on the sensational case again.
Loss to the exchequer
Commissioner of Customs, Kochi, K.N. Raghavan told The Hindu that the network had moved at least 1,500 of kg of contraband gold during the period, causing an estimated Rs.200 crore loss to the exchequer.
The network’s extraordinary run of successes came to an abrupt end on June 24, 2015, following the chance discovery of 13 gold bars, each one weighing a kg, beneath the rear seat of airport shuttle bus. The breakthrough in what was initially a blind case came with the arrest of Salim, the air-passenger who had “hidden” the gold. Noushad’s name first cropped up during his interrogation. Investigators learned that Noushad regularly recruited men from his native Muvattupuzha to smuggle gold into Kerala from Dubai.
The “carriers” were put up in crowded working class apartments in Deira and asked to fly to various airports in India with the contraband on days when the spot rate for gold peaked.
The tax differential assured the smugglers a minimum Rs.2 lakh profit on every kg of gold smuggled into India. Airport surveillance camera footage helped investigators retrace Salim’s movements during his previous arrivals.
They realised that he routinely used the classic “dead letter box” method to deliver the contraband. The gold would be hidden in an out-of-the-way spot from where it would be collected later by unknown others.
Investigators soon suspected the hand of insiders. They found that duty timings of Jabin K. Basheer, an emigration official, and at least 25 ground handling staff corresponded with the arrival of carriers from Dubai.
Telephone traces and mobile communication linked the suspects to the smugglers, investigators said.
