Kerala gold smuggling case accused remanded; IAS officer likely to be quizzed

While the two accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case held from Bengaluru on Saturday were produced before the NIA court in Kochi on Sunday and remanded, a Malappuram-based businessman, Rameez, who was suspected to be involved in distribution of smuggled gold, was taken into custody by the customs.

The NIA was learnt to be initiating steps for extradition of another accused in the case Fazil Fareed, who was suspected to be sending the gold from Dubai, while the Customs officials were likely to quiz Kerala chief minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar as it was suspected that the gold smuggling case accused used to meet at his flat in Thiruvananthapurm city. There was no evidence for his involvement in gold smuggling, said sources.

Swapna Suresh, who was a former employee of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, and Sandeep Nair, who runs an automobile carbon care centre here, were held from a hideout in Bengaluru. They were the second and fourth accused. They were brought to Kochi by road and produced before NIA special court after collecting sample for COVID test. They were remanded for three days and NIA is likely to file application seeking their custody on Monday.

Sources said that the third accused in the case Fazil Fareed was suspected to be in UAE. He hailed from Kodungallor in Thrissur district and later shifted to Ernakulam. NIA was learnt to have initiated steps for his extradition.

Meanwhile, the Congress and BJP alleged that Swapna and Sandeep managed to reach the hideout in Bengaluru from Kerala amidst travel restrictions over COVID with the help of influential persons in Kerala government. Various youth outfits of Congress and BJP staged demonstrations against Swapna and Sandeep at various parts of the state while they were being brought to Kerala from Karnataka by road.