Malappuram: The ED said that the gold found in the raid conducted in Malappuram last day was part of diplomatic gold smuggling. The ED raided four jewelleries and the house of Abu Bakar Pazhedath. It was found that the three kilos of gold seized by the consulate belonged to him.
The gold was seized from a ‘secret chamber’ in the private centre of Abubakar Pazhedam, the promoter of Malappuram-based Malabar Jewellery and Fine Gold Jewellery and one of the shareholders of Kozhikode Atlas Gold Super Markets Private Limited.
It is found that the 3 kg gold that has been seized in connection with the gold smuggling belongs to Abubakar. During the subsequent interrogation, he revealed that he had earlier smuggled six kilos of gold in this way. He smuggled 6 kg of gold with the help of Swapna Suresh, the accused in Kerala gold smuggling case. Based on the information, raids were conducted at his jewelleries and house in Malappuram. Then five kilos of smuggled gold was seized. Five kilos of gold, which was kept in a secret compartment at his house has been seized along with Rs 3.45 lakh.
According to a press release released by the ED, this case is related to the diplomatic gold smuggling case. It is also said that Abu Bakar was the leader of diplomatic gold smuggling in the past. Abu Bakar Pazhedam is one of the beneficiaries of the gold scam conducted by Swapna Suresh, Sarith PS and Sandeep Nair under the leadership of the senior IAS officer M Sivashankar.
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