Thiruvananthapuram: Vanchiyoor police arrested five men on Saturday in the incident in which a Tamil Nadu native was kidnapped by a ‘pottickal’ gang in a bid to snatch smuggled gold. The arrested men were part of the gang that abducted the man. They have been identified by police as Hakkim, 30, of Vallakadavu, Nishad, 33, of Vallakadavu, Shafeeque, 31, of Boatpura, Syed, 35, and Maheen, 32, of Rajiv Gandhi Lane at Muttathara.
On Wednesday night, Tirunelveli native Muhammed Umar, 23, was abducted by the gang near Sreekanteswaram while he was travelling in an autorickshaw. Umar is an agent of a gold smuggling gang, and he was supposed to collect gold from carriers and hand it over to other people. He gets Rs 2,000 for each deal in addition to food, accommodation, and travelling expenses.
A carrier gets Rs 8,000 to 10,000 when the gold is handed over after arriving at the airport. Police said the accused noticed Umar reaching the airport several times and returning with luggage in hand. He was also noticed handing over the luggage to certain people, and the gang deduced that he was part of the gold smuggling racket.
The gang later planned to abduct Umar to snatch gold from him. In a pre-planned plot, on Wednesday, the gang followed Umar, and he was abducted while coming back from the airport. Umar had reached the airport to receive Antony George Alex, who arrived from Singapore.
He was a carrier of gold and Umar was to collect it from him and hand it over to another person. But Antony was caught by the customs. Unaware of this, Umar was abducted by the gang.
He was then beaten up by the gang. After they realised that the carrier was caught by the customs, they allowed Umar to leave. On the complaint of the autorickshaw driver, police registered a case, and the car in which the gang abducted Umar was traced to Vallakadavu.
Meanwhile, Umar was also traced by police with the help of CCTV visuals. The current owner of the car was Hakeem, and he is an accused in a rape case. The other accused are also involved in several criminal cases.
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