Alappuzha: Customs has initiated a probe into the incident of a woman being abducted from Mannar here and being released in Palakkad. There were reports claiming that the woman had links to a gold smuggling gang.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Customs team arrived in Mannar to collect more information regarding the incident.
Alappuzha Mannar native Bindu, who had returned from Dubai four days ago, was taken away from her home on Monday early morning and was later abandoned near Mudappallur in Vadakkencherry in Palakkad district around 11 am.
Bindu, who was exhausted, later took an autorickshaw and reached the Vadakkencherry police station. Police took her to Alathur Taluk Hospital for first aid. Later, she was taken to Chengannur.
In the complaint to the police, Bindu’s family alleged that a 15-member gang intruded into their house with machete and other weapons and kidnapped Bindhu. The family also alleged that Koduvally natives were behind the crime.
She said that she did not know if gold smugglers had abducted her. There were four people inside the car and that they demanded money, Bindu said while addressing the media while police were taking her to Alappuzha.
Meanwhile, police found that a gold smuggling racket was involved in the abduction. She told the police that she smuggled 1.5 kg gold from Dubai, but abandoned it at the airport over fear of being nabbed.
However, police found discrepancy in her statements. They are also probing whether the smuggled gold was handed over to someone else.
Police had found that a person named Haneefa had handed over gold to Bindu. He had earlier helped Bindu in obtaining a visiting visa twice.
As police confirmed that the abduction was staged around gold smuggling, Customs initiated the probe.
