Kannur: The probe into the recent car-lorry crash in Ramanattukara has exposed the bitter rivalry among various underworld gangs in north Kerala and their political links.

Rival gangs had made elaborate arrangements to trap Arjun Ayanki, a suspected gold smuggler, it was revealed. The plan, jointly chalked out by at least two gangs, involved a dummy gold carrier and tipper lorry.

The dummy carrier travelled in the same aircraft in which Mohammed Shafeeq, who was arrested at the Kozhikode International Airport with 2.33 kilograms of smuggled gold, had taken.

The dummy was placed in the aircraft believing that Ayanki would abduct him to take away the gold. The plan was to waylay and detain Ayanki with the help of the gang from Cherpulassery.

The Koduvally gang, which planned the operation, however, was unaware that Ayanki had outwitted them, and knew the real carrier, Shafeeq.

Ayanki left the airport soon after learning of Shafeeq's arrest early on June 21. Believing that he was returning with the dummy carrier, the Cherpulassery gang tailed his car, which turned fatal for them.

In the reported high-speed road chase that ensued, the car in which the Cherpulassery gang was travelling, collided with a cement-laden lorry near Pulinchode near Ramanattukara in Kozhikode around 5 am, killing five.

The accident made the police suspect the involvement of gold smugglers, which led to further investigation.

The Koduvally gang reportedly laid the trap for Ayanki after he had managed to rob their smuggled gold 20 times earlier.

Car found

Meanwhile, based on a tip-off, the police found the car, suspected to have been used by Ayanki, on Sunday. The red-colour Maruti Suzuki Swift car, with its registration plates removed, was hidden in the thickets on a hillock opposite the Medical College Hospital at Pariyaram in Kannur.

Investigators who checked the engine number, identified its registration number, KL-13-AR-7789, and confirmed its owner, C Sajesh of Koyyode, a member of the CPM Moyyaram branch committee, and Chembilode zonal secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

The CPM suspended Sajesh from the party, while the DYFI ousted him. Meanwhile, the Customs issued a summons to Ayanki to appear before it in Kochi on Monday.

The CPM is in a spot after the names of several of its lower-level cadres emerged in the gold smuggling case, and that too in Kannur - the home district of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.