Gold smuggling: Kerala film industry link to be probed

, Nov 13: The apex intelligence organisation of Indian Customs has begun investigations into links between gang of

smugglers, arrested in

in the recent past, and the Malayalam film industry, an official said.

An official with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) told IANS a flat here was the hub of the gold-smuggling gang.

"We have come to know that a few people associated with the Malayalam film industry were regulars in the flat and in the coming days we will summon these people to find out what they were doing in the flat," said the official.

The DRI team arrested two women from Kochi airport in September and also arrested two other women, including an Air India Express cabin crew, from the Kozhikode airport early this month. All arrests were made when they arrived at airports from the Middle East.

T.K. Fayaz, the leader of the smuggling gang, was put behind bars after the women arrested from Kochi airport revealed his name. He had recently acted in a Malayalam film and his close links with the Malayalam film industry also surfaced.

"We will now check if the film industry people were misled by the gang and invited for discussions on film projects, or if there was more to mere discussions. We will summon two people from the Malayalam film industry," added the official.

DRI officials have found that in the past two months, around 50 kg of gold worth Rs.15 crore was smuggled.

IANS