Kerala gold-smuggling case: NIA files chargesheet against 20 accused

The accused, including Sarith P S and Swapna Prabha Suresh, have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)

The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday filed chargesheet against 20 accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case.

Among those charge-sheeted were former employees of UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, Sarith P S and Swapna Prabha Suresh, who are the first and second accused respectively, and third accused K T Rameez, who was suspected to be kingpin of the racket.

Kerala Chief Minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar was not arraigned in the case by NIA so far even as Customs and Enforcement Directorate had arraigned him in the cases registered against the gold smuggling accused.

The chargesheet was filed at the NIA special court in Kochi, close to six months after registering the case on July 10 last year. Hence the chances of key accused getting bail became bleak. Sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were invoked against the accused.

Of the 31 arraigned in the case, 21 were arrested so far while eight were reported absconding. Around ten among them already got bail. A key accused in the case, Sandeep Nair, was learnt to be made approver by NIA in the case.

A NIA statement said that 167 kilogram gold were smuggled by the gang between November 2019 and June 2020 misusing diplomatic cargo addressed to UAE consulate general in Thiruvananthapuram. The main accused also had plans to smuggle more gold from countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Proceeds from the smuggling were transferred to UAE through hawala channels, the statement said.

The accused included those who funded the smuggling activities also. The court had earlier repeatedly asked NIA to give evidence for the terrorism angle in the case even as NIA maintained that even smuggling could be considered as economic terrorism and threatening economic security of the country. NIA also suspected links of some of the accused in the case with proscribed terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

The gold smuggling case surfaced on July 5 last year after the customs seized 30 kilograms of gold, worth around Rs 15 crore, from a baggage addressed to the consulate with a diplomatic tag at the Thiruvananthapuram airport.