The NIA on Tuesday filed a charge-sheet against 20 persons accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, including Sarith P. S., Swapna Prabha Suresh, Ramees K. T., Jalal A. M. Mohammed Shafi and others under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The development gains significance as key accused Swapna had reportedly confessed to the NIA about her close links in the office of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. An NIA investigation had revealed her links with the former principal secretary to the chief minister, M. Sivasankar.
The other accused named in the charge sheet are:
Saidalavi E., Abdu P. T., Rabins Hameed, Muhammedali Ebrahim , Muhammedali, Sharafuddeen K. T., Mohammed Shafeeq , Hamzath Abdulsalam, Samju T. M., Hamjad Ali K, Jifsal C.V., Aboobacker P, Muhammed Abdu Shameem K. V. , Abdul Hameed and Shamshudeen .
While the absconding accused, Swapna and Sandeep Nair, had been arrested by NIA from Bengaluru on July 11, 31 more persons, who had conspired and financed gold smuggling besides facilitating the disposal of contraband and transfer of proceeds to the UAE through hawala channels for purchasing and smuggling gold, were named as accused in the case. The NIA said the case merited slapping the stringent anti-terror law as the crimes had been committed with the intention of threatening the economic security of the country.
The NIA registered a case on July 10 against Sarith P. S. Swapna Prabha Suresh, Faisal Fareed, Sandeep Nair and others after 30kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was seized on July 5 at Trivandrum International Airport by Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Cochin, from the import cargo addressed to the Charge D’ Affaires at the Consulate General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Thiruvananthapuram.
The NIA investigation has revealed that the accused had knowingly conspired since June 2019, raising funds and smuggling from UAE, between November 2019 and June 2020, around 167kgs of gold, through the import cargo addressed to diplomats at the Consulate General of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram. According to the NIA, the main accused had also planned to smuggle more gold from countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Till now, 21 accused persons have been arrested by NIA while eight accused persons are absconding. “Investigation continues against the absconding accused persons and others who had facilitated this crime,” the NIA said in a statement.
