The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested two residents of Muvattupuzha in connection with the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case. The NIA arrested Muhammad Ali Ebrahim and Muhammad Ali, after investigation revealed that they were also part of the conspiracy. They mainly assisted A.M. Jaleel, who was earlier arrested for collecting the smuggled gold from Ramees K.T.
Muhammad Ali is a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and was earlier charge-sheeted in the palm chopping case, but was acquitted after trial in 2015, said a press release issued by the agency in New Delhi.
However, PFI Ernakulam district president V.K. Salim said Ali was not a member of the organisation and there were attempts to drag the name of the organisation into the cases with ulterior motives. The arrested were remanded till August 6.
On Sunday, the NIA held searches at six places covering the residences of accused Jalal and Rabins Hameed in Ernakulam and Ramees, Mohammed Shafi, Said Alavi and P.T Abdu in Malappuram.
The officials seized two hard disks, one tablet PC, eight mobile phones, six SIM cards, one digital video recorder and five DVDs. Bank passbooks, credit/debit cards, travel documents and identity documents of the accused were also seized by the agency.
Meanwhile, the bail application of Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair will be considered by the NIA Special court on August 4.
