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2 young Keralites smuggling gold from Gulf murdered

Police arrest three men in connection with the murder

Two young Keralites from Malabar region who used to smuggle gold from Gulf to India have been brutally murdered in Mangalore and buried in a plantation in Kasargodu area, said a senior police official.

R Hithendra, Mangalore Police Commissioner, said the murder took place on July 1 and the victims’ decomposed bodies were retrieved on July 6.

Gulf based smuggling rackets have been luring young men to carry gold to various destinations, offering them air tickets and money.

Gold smuggling has been on the rise in recent years due to considerable price difference in India and the Gulf region, and several gold carriers have been nabbed at the Indian airports while trying to smuggle gold.

Elaborating murder of the two Kerala youth from Thalassery and Calicut related to gold smuggling racket, the Mangalore police commissioner said Nafir Ahmed Jan, a 24-year-old Keralite from Kasargodu, and Fahim, 25, from Calicut, were murdered by the friends for the 3.5 kg of gold that they smuggled from Gulf to Bangalore but did not hand over it to the smuggling agent who was monitoring their movement in India. The two used to smuggle gold regularly from Gulf to India. After spending all the money they had from selling the smuggled gold, they tried to sell the remaining gold in order to return to the Gulf using a fake passport.

The deceased sold 2.5 kg of gold with the help of their friends for Rs7 million and were leading a luxury lifestyle. The remaining one kilogram gold was seized by the police along with a Duster vehicle used to carry the dead bodies and weapons used to hack the duo to death. Instead of delivering the 3 kg gold to the agent, Jan escaped from the smugglers and went to Goa

Jan went to the Gulf three times after his father’s death and the last time he went a few months ago. His middle-class family thought he was still in Gulf until the Mangalore police reached his house with his passport and photograph to inquire about the murder case.

Fahim had gone abroad without informing the family and a missing case was filed about him.

According to police reports, Fahim and Jan have been working as gold carriers since November 2013, and last time carried 3.5kg gold from Gulf to Bangalore using a passport issued from Hyderabad. Instead of delivering the smuggled gold to the agreed agent, they went to Goa with a plan to sell the gold and make his life.

Three people who have been arrested by the Karnataka Police helped Nafir and Fahim to sell the smuggled gold. They became friends while living in the same lodges and hotels.

Three youngsters, Mohammed Mahajir Sanaf, resident of Cherkala Badiadka, Kasargod, Mohammed Irshad and Mohammed Safwan, residents of Anangoor, have been arrested in connection with the murder. Police is investigating others for their involvement in the case, including a house owner who rented the Mangalore house where the murder happened.

They paid Rs30,000 per month rent to the posh building leased in Mangalore. The three culprits when realized that the gold smuggling racket had traced Fahim’s whereabouts, they planned to murder him and take possession of the remaining half kilogram gold and also saving themselves from the wrath of smugglers. They planned the murder because they knew the smuggling agent would kill them one day and they did the crime in advance to hide their involvement in selling smuggled gold.

The victims had made friendship with the murderers in Goa and the murder happened in Manglore on July 1, 2014, according to Mangalore Police. The duo had leased a house in Attavar, Mangalore about twenty days ago and the murder happened there. The accused entered the rental house and hacked them death. Fahim was stabbed on his neck and Jan was also murdered when he came to his rescue.

When people in Attavar vicinity informed the police about blood stains found near the rented house, cops kept a watch on the area and found them moving around in a suspicious manner with blood stains on their vehicle. The murder story came to light when they were questioned by police thinking they belonged to some terrorist groups and with the cooperation of Kerala police, the bodies have been retrieved from a plot of land in  Bedagam village, purchased by Safwan, one of the three arrested in the case.

The bodies were tied in gunny bags and buried in a spot already dug up for rain water pond. Police alerted public against leasing houses to unknown people without checking their credentials and the role of the house owner in the smuggling murder case is also being investigated.