Kochi: Thiruvananthapuram airport gold smuggling case accused K T Ramees and a close relative of a top politician in Kerala were on the phone contact list of Mohammad Anoop, a Kochi native who has been arrested in a drug case in Bengaluru.
Anoop had called the politician’s relative many times on the day Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the two other accused in the gold smuggling case, were arrested in Bengaluru on July 10.
Mohammad Anoop was arrested along with another Malayalee R Raveendran and television serial actress D Anikha in the drug case by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The agencies investigating the gold smuggling case have not got an answer to why Swapna, who tried to flee with her family after the smuggling racket was busted, and Sandeep Nair who was with her, chose Bengaluru as the hideout.
Swapna, in her statements to the agencies, they left Kerala in Sandeep’s car from Kochi. An unknown vehicle had followed them from the Karnataka border till Bengaluru, she has said.
Mohammad Anoop was also active in drug parties in Kochi. He shifted his base to Bengaluru a year ago.
Many of the accused have said that information about the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic parcel got leaked after Ramees sought the help of the drug racket to raise more money for the smuggling.
Anoop, Raveendran and Anikha were arrested by the NCB on August 27.