KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will take KT Ramees, the fifth accused arrested in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, into custody for detailed questioning. Ramees, the mastermind behind the gold smuggling, was arrested on Wednesday after being summoned to the office in Kochi for questioning. He was produced in court and remanded.

ED indicates that Ramees was in contact with those who invested money in gold loans and those who bought gold. The ED is hopeful of getting information about hawala transactions in gold smuggling, the use of black money and the information of those who got gold from Ramees. Ramees controlled gold smuggling from Dubai. According to central agencies, the idea and planning to smuggle the gold through the diplomatic channel belonged to Ramees.

In 2020, Ramees was arrested by Customs and NIA in the infamous diplomatic gold smuggling case. Ramees was caught from his house in Malappuram after the arrest of Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, who absconded after the gold smuggling was exposed. Ramees was on bail in this case. On July 5, 2020, Customs seized 30 kg of gold worth Rs 15 crore smuggled through the diplomatic channel under the cover of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.