KERALA: National Investigation Agency on Tuesday filed charge-sheets against 20 accused persons in Trivandrum Gold Smuggling Case before a Special Court for NIA Cases, Ernakulum, Kerala.
The accused persons are Sarith PS-resident of Thiruvananthapuram district, Swapna Prabha Suresh-resident of Thiruvananthapuram district, Ramees KT-resident of Malappuram district, Jalal AM-resident of Ernakulum district, Mohammad Shafi P-Resident of Malappuram district, Saidalavi E-resident of Malappuram district, Abdu PT-resident of Malappuram district, Rabins Hameed-resident of Ernakulum, Muhammedali Ebrahim-resident of Ernakulum district, Sharafuddeen KT-resident of Malappuram district, Mohammed Shafeeq-resident of Kozhikode district, Hamjad Ali K-resident of Malappuram district, Jifsal CV-resident of Kozhikode, Aboobacker P-resident of Malappuram district, Muhammed Abdu Shameem KV-resident of Kozhikode, Abdul Hameed-resident of Malappuram district and Shamshudeen-resident of Kozhikode districts under Sections 16, 17, and 18 of UA (P) Act.
The case was registered by NIA on July 10th, 2020 against Sarith PS Swapna Prabha Suresh, Faisal Fareed, Sandeep Nair and others under Section 16, 17 and 18 of UA (P) Act consequent to the seizure of around 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crores on 5th of July, 2020 at Trivandrum International Airport by Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Cochin, from the import cargo, addressed to the Charge D’ Affaires at the Consulate General of United Arab Emirates in Thiruvananthapuram.
Absconding accused Swapna Prabha Suresh and more persons, who had conspired and financed gold smuggling besides facilitated the disposal of the contraband and transfer of proceeds thereof to the UAE through Hawala channels, for purchasing and smuggling more gold with the intention of threatening the economic security of India were arraigned as accused in the case. Till now, twenty-one accused persons have been arrested in the case of NIA, while eight accused persons are absconding.
The NIA investigation hitherto has revealed that the accused had knowingly conspired since June 2019, raised funds and smuggled from UAE, between November 209 and June 2020 around 167 kilograms of gold through the import cargo addressed to diplomats at the Consulate General of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram. Significantly the main accused in this case had also planned to smuggle more gold from countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Investigation continues against the absconding accused persons and others who had facilitated the crime.
