Bhutan car smuggling; Lightning search at houses of Mammootty and Dulquer

KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting a lightning search at the house of Dulquer Salmaan in connection with the Bhutan car smuggling case. The search is at 17 places. ED is conducting the raid soon after a search was conducted by the customs. The ED said the raid is based on information about a syndicate involved in the illegal import and registration of luxury cars like Land Cruiser and Defender to India through Bhutan/Nepal routes.

The search is being carried out at Mammootty's old house 'Mammootty House', and at the house in Kadavanthra where Mammootty lives presently. Dulquer lives here. Raids are also being carried out at the houses of actors Prithviraj, Amit Chakkalakkal, foreign businessman Vijesh Varghese and vehicle dealers. Searches are underway in Kottayam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Chennai.

The high court had the other day directed the customs to release Dulquer Salmaan's vehicles seized as part of Operation Numkhor. The high court had ordered to take a decision on the actor's request to release the vehicle within a week. The high court had also told the customs that it was not right to make allegations against individuals without evidence.