Thiruvananthapuram, October 8, 2025 — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids on Wednesday at 17 locations across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including the production house of Malayalam superstar Mammootty. The operation is part of an ongoing investigation into the illegal import of high-end luxury vehicles and unauthorized foreign exchange transactions.
Celebrities Among Those Targeted
According to ED officials, the residences and business establishments of prominent actors, including Prithviraj, Dulquer Salmaan, and Amith Chackalacal, were also searched. The operation spanned multiple districts, including Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, and Coimbatore.
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Over 200 Luxury Cars Smuggled
Preliminary findings indicate that over 200 high-end luxury cars were illegally imported from Nepal and Bhutan over the past two years. Officials said smugglers exploited low import duties and porous borders to register these vehicles using forged documents, before selling them at discounted prices to high-net-worth individuals.
How the Syndicate Operated
The ED Kochi Zonal Office stated that the investigation is being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. Initial findings suggest that a Coimbatore-based network forged documents purporting to be from the Indian Army, the U.S. Embassy, and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and used fraudulent Regional Transport Office (RTO) registrations across Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and other states to sell vehicles illegally.
Foreign Exchange Violations and Hawala Channels
The agency said preliminary investigations revealed violations of Sections 3, 4, and 8 of FEMA, involving unauthorized foreign exchange transactions and cross-border payments routed through hawala networks. Investigators are now tracing the complete network, including smugglers, RTO officials, and buyers.
Past Cases and Court Intervention
Similar luxury car smuggling networks have been busted in India before. In 2011, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized Aston Martin cars in Delhi that had been registered in the names of diplomatic missions.
Recently, the Kerala High Court issued a notice to the Customs Department, directing that a seized vehicle be provisionally released under Section 110-A of the Customs Act. Dulquer Salmaan has also filed an application seeking the provisional release of one of his vehicles, which had been seized by the Customs Preventive Department.
‘Operation Numkhor’
On September 23, the Customs Department carried out raids at 30 locations across Kerala as part of ‘Operation Numkhor’, including the homes of Dulquer Salmaan, Mammootty, and Prithviraj. A total of 36 luxury vehicles were seized, some of which were allegedly linked to gold and drug smuggling.
The ED’s actions, combined with judicial oversight, have brought to light what is now considered the largest luxury car smuggling scandal in the Malayalam film industry, highlighting the extensive and organized nature of illegal imports and unauthorized foreign exchange dealings.
