Gold smuggling: Five arrested for abducting Thrissur youth

KOCHI: Ernakulam Rural police on Monday confirmed that a youth who went missing after arriving at the Kochi airport was kidnapped.
Police have arrested five persons for allegedly kidnapping the youth who had arrived from Oman reportedly with gold.
The arrested persons have been identified as Sreelal (32) of Panoor in Kannur, Reneesh (32) of Panthakkal, Libin (32) of Panoor, Ajmal (27) of Panoor and Najeeb (22) of Chokli.
A senior police officer said that primary investigation indicated that the accused were part of a gang indulging in robbing smuggled gold.
According to police, the victim, Hafsal of Thrissur, landed at the Kochi airport from Oman on Saturday morning. He was abducted in a car by the accused. As per the complaint given to police, as much as 1kg of gold was robbed from him. Police are yet to recover the gold.
The victim and the accused were traced from a lodge at Thalassery. Police said that eight other youths were also found in the lodge and their role was under investigation.
All the suspects and the victim were taken into custody by Nedumbassery police with the help of Thalassery police. The victim was produced before a magistrate court.
Nedumbassery police registered the case as per the complaint of the victim’s mother. As per the FIR, Hafsal landed at the airport at around 8.30am and did not reach home till late evening.
Police said that the FIR was altered to add additional sections after finding that the youth was kidnapped.