A team of customs preventive officers led by Assistant Commissioner A. Praveen Kumar arrested five persons who tried to transport around 4.77 kg of smuggled gold via the Calicut international airport to Mysore on Wednesday night.
The five were detained after intercepting a Mysore-bound KSRTC bus from Kalpetta around 6 p.m.
The arrested were identified as P. Abdul Nazar, 48, K.C. Thahir, 28, A.K. Sudhir, 38, T.K. Mohammedali, 36, and K. Babu, 36. Three of the accused were found carrying the gold bars in specially made cloth belts.
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The seizure was made following a tipoff received by Commissioner of Customs K.N. Raghavan. Officials said the seized gold bars had a market value of Rs.1.24 crore.
After the arrest of the gang, the customs squad also took into custody another man hailing from Thamarassery on Thursday on the charge of planning the entire operation. Customs officials said his arrest would be confirmed on completion of interrogation.
Mr. Praveen Kumar said the five persons were Koduvally natives and working as carriers for a meagre sum. “We have intensified the probe to trace the kingpins involved in the incident,” he added.
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Seizure made following a tip-off received by the Commissioner of Customs.