Dawood Ibrahim link suspected in Kerala gold smuggling case: NIA tells court

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) suspects that India’s most wanted terror suspect Dawood Ibrahim may be linked to Kerala gold smuggling case that was unearthed in July and involved the use of diplomatic bags. This was hinted by NIA on Wednesday in a special court in Kochi during a hearing in the sensational gold racket case.

Dawood, a designated global terrorist, is wanted on charges of terrorism, 1993 Bombay bombings, murder, extortion, targeted killing, drug trafficking and various other cases. He is number 3 on the FBI’s list of ‘The World’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives’.

The NIA told the court that there were intelligence inputs regarding probable use of proceeds from the gold smuggling for the anti-national and terrorism activities, adding the detention of all accused in judicial custody upto 180 days was absolutely necessary to carry forward the investigation in the case, reports PTI.

The NIA said Ramees, fifth accused in the case, during custodial interrogation, has revealed that he had attempted to start a diamond business in Tanzania and that later he had attempted to obtain a gold mining licence in Tanzania.

He had also stated about having brought gold from Tanzania and the sold the same in UAE, it said and quoting the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee’s narrative summary on Dawood and fact sheet published by the US Department of Treasury specifically mentioned his gang’s activities in Africa.

“Recent news reports have also specifically mentioned the diamond business of Dawood Ibrahim in Tanzania, managed by his associate “Feroz”, considered a south Indian by intelligence agencies”, the agency said in the report, indicating the suspected link needed to be probed.

NIA also said the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), the apex intelligence body for economic agencies in India, had sent a report to the Director General of NIA during October, 2019 regarding the probable use of proceeds from gold smuggling in Kerala, for terrorism and other anti-national activities.

The gold smuggling case dates back to July this year when 30 kilograms of gold was seized by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs at Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic bag that was meant to be delivered to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.