The Kannur district administration has ordered preventive detention under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA) against 29-year-old Arjun Ayanki citing his alleged involvement in nine criminal cases during the past seven years.

The order was issued after Kannur District Police Chief (City) recommended action under KAAPA, which was approved by District Collector P. Vishnuraj. The authorities said Ayanki had posed a threat to society and that there was a likelihood of him continuing criminal activities if released on bail. He is currently in judicial custody.

Under the order, Ayanki is to be detained at Kannur Central Jail as a preventive measure. The District Collector has directed the District Police Chief to implement the order immediately, arrest Ayanki and produce him before the Superintendent of Kannur Central Jail.

Ayanki has a history of criminal cases and has been linked by police investigations to gold smuggling and gold robbery networks. He first came into the spotlight in 2021 in connection with the gold smuggling investigation following the Ramnattukara highway accident in which five people were killed. Customs investigators had questioned him in connection with a case involving a carrier allegedly carrying 2.33 kg of gold intended to be handed over to him. The police have also accused Ayanki of being a key conspirator in a 2023 case involving the alleged abduction and robbery of a gold merchant in Palakkad’s Meenakshipuram.

According to the police case, a gang intercepted the private bus, subjected and assaulted the merchant and allegedly stole 75 sovereigns of gold, money, and a mobile phone.

More recently, Ayanki was arrested after a Statewide police search following a cybercrime case registered over alleged abusive and threatening social media posts targeting Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and police officers. The police have also been investigating whether questioning him could help uncover wider gold smuggling and gold robbery networks operating in the State.

The police had earlier begun preparation to invoke KAAPA against Ayanki with authorities compiling his previous criminal cases and other records while he was in judicial custody.

This is not the first time KAAPA proceedings have been initiated against Ayanki. In 2022, a previous KAAPA detention exclusion order against him was later set aside by the KAAPA Advisory Board, which held that the customs gold smuggling case could not be relied upon for KAAPA action under the circumstances then before it.