7 months ago
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The Kochi Zonal Office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) connected Wednesday (October 8, 2025) summoned actor-producer Dulquer Salmaan successful transportation with the seizure of 3 high-end pre-owned SUVs by the Customs past month.
The Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, initially seized 2 SUVs — 2 Land Rover Defenders and a Nissan Patrol — followed by different conveyance from the histrion arsenic portion of Operation Numkhor, which targets high-value pre-owned vehicles suspected to person been smuggled successful from Bhutan.
Reportedly, the histrion has been summoned regarding transactions related to the seized vehicles.
Mr. Salmaan had earlier approached the Kerala High Court seeking the merchandise of his vehicles. On Tuesday, the High Court directed him to attack the adjudicating authorization nether the Customs Act to petition the merchandise of 1 of his high-end SUVs.
ED raids
The ED has been conducting raids nether the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) astatine 17 locations crossed Kerala and Tamil Nadu since Wednesday greeting arsenic portion of an ongoing probe into the alleged smuggling of high-end pre-owned luxury vehicles and related unauthorised overseas speech transactions.
The cognition covered 17 premises, including the residences and establishments of movie stars Prithviraj Sikumaran, Mr. Salmaan, and Amit Chakkalakkal, arsenic good arsenic definite conveyance owners, car workshops, and traders successful Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, and Coimbatore.
These raids travel simultaneous Statewide operations conducted by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, astatine implicit 30 locations — including the residences of actors — connected September 23. During those raids, 37 “high-value second-hand cars” suspected to person been smuggled successful from Bhutan implicit the past fewer years were seized. Three much vehicles were confiscated successful the days that followed.
“The searches were based connected inputs exposing a syndicate engaged successful the amerciable import and registration of luxury cars specified arsenic Land Cruiser, Defender, and Maserati done Indo-Bhutan/Nepal routes,” stated a merchandise issued by the ED connected Wednesday.
Preliminary findings uncover a Coimbatore-based web utilizing forged documents —purporting to beryllium from the Indian Army, US Embassy, and Ministry of External Affairs—and fraudulent RTO (Regional Transport Office) registrations successful Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and different States. The vehicles were aboriginal sold to high-net-worth individuals, including movie personalities, astatine undervalued prices, the merchandise added.
The ED enactment was initiated aft prima facie violations of Sections 3, 4, and 8 of FEMA were detected, involving unauthorised overseas speech transactions and cross-border payments done hawala channels.
Further probe is nether mode to hint the wealth trail, beneficiary network, and overseas speech movement.
The Customs carried retired the cognition based connected a database of 150 to 200 vehicles flagged for irregularities successful the database of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. These vehicles were suspected to person been smuggled into Kerala by a Coimbatore-based racket.
