Cops hunt for smuggler
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A team from Kochi CBI is in the city hunting for their most-wanted smuggling kingpin who had smuggled electronic goods worth Rs 30 crore from Singapore to Chennai and Kochi in just two months in 2011.
The CBI has announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of the smuggler, Khader Mohideen alias Abdullah alias Jinnabhai.
“Of the 15 accused of the smuggling, the CBI already arrested 14 persons, including three customs officials from Kochi airport. We are on the look out for the kingpin for the last six months,” a CBI inspector from Kochi who is now in the city told Deccan Chronicle.
“A CBI court in Ernakulam, Kerala, had issued a proclamation against Mohideen asking him to appear before the court by August 2 and saying that otherwise the court can declare him a proclaimed offender and start attaching properties,” said the inspector.
The smugglers had received 24 consignments from Singapore in Kochi and Chennai during September and October 2011. The consignments were declared as household articles and booked by different passengers.
“Out of the 24 consignments, one was intercepted by the DRI in Chennai while the last one was seized by CBI at the Kochi port, when the agency started probing the involvement of the customs officials in the racket,” a CBI official said.
Mohideen had used the carriers (kuruvis) travel documents to book consignments from Singapore to India and claimed the parcel at cargo counters in Chennai and Kochi.
The smuggler could have escaped to a foreign country as the CBI has so far not issued a lookout circular for him as they do not have his passport details, said sources.
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