Sleuths from the Customs Preventive on Tuesday carried out raids at multiple locations across Kerala to track down, identify and seize high-end luxury vehicles brought illegally to India from Bhutan with forged documents that have seals of the Army and the US Embassy.
Searches were carried out at around 30 locations, including at the residences of movie stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Dulquer Salman and Amit Chakkalackal, across the state and 36 high-end luxury cars were seized, Commissioner of the Customs Preventive Commissionerate in Kochi, T Tiju, told a press conference in Kochi.
Giving details of raids -- codenamed "Operation Numkhor" -- he said that many of these vehicles, brought illegally to India and sold in the country, were also used to smuggle gold and drugs and cases have been lodged in connection with that.
"If they can smuggle cars, gold and narcotics like this, then they can bring anything else. Therefore, it is a major threat to national and economic security of the country," he emphasised.
The Customs Preventive Commissioner also said that their initial probe revealed various other illegalities like income tax and GST evasion as well as money laundering in connection with the smuggled vehicles.
Besides that, it was also looking into whether the funds from such illegalities were used for terrorist activities, he added.
In the Bhutanese language, 'Numkhor' means 'vehicle' and the raids were carried out simultaneously at Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Malappuram, among others during the day, the commissioner said. -- PTI