Kerala: Illegal telephone exchange linked to gold smuggling racket

The Kerala Crime Branch has found out that the parallel telephone exchange, that the agency was investigating, functioned for a gold smuggling racket in the state. The probe agency has found that more than a thousand exchanges were used for the smuggling gang.

Kozhikode: In a huge breakthrough in the Kerala parallel telephone exchange case, the Crime Branch has found out that the illegal telephone exchange functioned for gold smuggling racket in the state. The probe agency has found that more than a thousand exchanges were used for the smuggling gang. The agency arrived at the findings after questioning Ibrahim from Malappuram, the prime accused in the exchange case.

The investigation team explained that the people behind the illegal parallel telephone exchange had vast connections across the country. They further revealed that the sim boxes for parallel exchanges were transported from Hong Kong. 114 sim boxes arrived in Delhi from Hong Kong last February which were then sent to the major cities of the country.

The special team of police who are probing a kidnapping case related to gold smuggling had found that a parallel telephone system was used to abduct the gold smuggler in Koyilandy. The police then conveyed their information to the Kozhikode crime branch. It is found that parallel telephone exchanges were functioning at seven places in Kozhikode city.