Bhutan car smuggling case: ED raids actor Mammootty, Dulquer Salmaan, and Prithviraj’s residences in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram/Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at houses of prominent Malayalam actors in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

Raids were carried out at 17 places including houses of actors Dulquer Salman, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Amit Chakkalackal.

The raids were sequel to the recent seizure of imported cars by the Customs department from these actors for allegedly evading customs duty by illegally importing through Bhutan and carrying out unauthorised foreign exchange dealings.

In Kerala, raids were carried out in houses of the actors and other premises in Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kottayam.

Dulquer’s residence in upscale Greams Road in Chennai was searched along with a few locations connected to him in Coimbatore.

Raids were also reportedly conducted at the house of actor Mammooty in connection with the seizure of his son Dulquer's car.

Dulquer reached his house in Kochi while the raid was progressing. ED officials were learnt to have collected details of the vehicle purchase from him.

Premises of some vehicle dealers and workshops were also raided. The raids that began simultaneously by around 7 am continued till late in the evening at some places.

Around 40 vehicles were seized by the customs in Operation Numkhor last month on charges of illegally importing used vehicles from Bhutan by evading customs duty. The customs officials suspect that around 200 luxury vehicles were illegally imported to Kerala. Majority of those cars couldn't be traced yet.

The customs raid had exposed a syndicate engaged in illegal import and registration of luxury cars such as Land Cruiser, Defender, and Maserati through Indo-Bhutan/Nepal routes.

“Preliminary findings reveal a Coimbatore-based network using forged documents (purporting to be from Indian Army, US Embassy, and MEA) and fraudulent RTO registrations in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and other states. Vehicles were later sold to HNI individuals, including film personalities, at undervalued prices,” a statement from the ED said.

ED officials said prima facie violations of Sections 3, 4, and 8 of FEMA had been detected, involving unauthorised foreign exchange transactions and payments routed through hawala. “Further investigation is underway to trace the money trail, beneficiary network, and foreign exchange movement,” the statement said.

There were unconfirmed reports that the Narcotics Control Bureau was also looking into the illegal luxury car export in view of suspicions that narcotic substances were also smuggled along with some of those cars.