Kerala gold smuggling case: A yr on, it is 24-carat confusion, 916 thriller

Express News Service
KOCHI: Confusion and nervousness prevailed on the cargo advanced of the Thiruvananthapuram airport within the first week of July final yr when a customs crew intercepted suspicious baggage despatched by way of the diplomatic channel from Dubai. The scene isn’t a lot completely different even after a yr.

While the preliminary confusion was over the worsening of diplomatic relations between two pleasant nations had the officers dared to verify the luggage, now the customs are too perplexed to discover a logical conclusion to the high-profile case that had rocked the state.

As many as 9 instances have been registered by the 5 central companies and two state companies which have been probing numerous angles associated to the seizure of 30.245 kg of gold from the luggage addressed to a UAE diplomat on the Thiruvananthapuram consulate. However, no one nonetheless is aware of who had despatched the gold and who the top receiver was.

ALSO READ | Kerala gold smuggling case: A timeline

It was within the early hours of July 1 that the luggage containing gold from Dubai was withheld by the customs on the cargo advanced. On document, it was a parcel despatched by a Thrissur native, Faizal Fareed, from Dubai containing an bill of Al Zatar Spices Sharjah addressed to UAE Consulate Admin Attache Rashed Khamis Alimusaiqri AI Ashmei.

The customs refused to clear the luggage and wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) looking for permission to open it the identical day. MEA wrote to the UAE Embassy for a no-objection certificates to open the luggage on July 2 and July 3, for which the permission was granted on July 4. On July 5, the luggage was opened and moulded gold in numerous varieties have been recovered within the presence of Rashed. The subsequent investigation revealed that as many as 167 kg of gold was introduced in by way of the identical channel on 21 events.

Soon, central companies like NIA, RAW, ED and Income Tax joined the probe with the customs. State companies — vigilance and crime department — additionally began to probe angles dictated by the state authorities. In the run as much as the meeting polls, the LDF authorities introduced a Judicial Commission led by Justice V Okay Mohan to probe whether or not the central companies had tried to border Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and different ministers within the case.

What had made the case a nationwide headline was the alleged involvement of the chief minister’s workplace. After the arrest of Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, NIA submitted within the court docket that CMO has hyperlinks to the case. The ED and the customs maintained that stand.

Later, when the ED and the customs arrested former principal secretary M Sivasankar for aiding the accused individuals, the NIA went silent on his position. Even the chargesheet filed within the NIA court docket in Kochi didn’t point out the participation of Sivasankar or anybody from the CMO. But a criticism (just like the chargesheet) filed by the ED claims Sivasankar was a part of the conspiracy.  Former Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel and former Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, who have been questioned by a number of central companies, weren’t implicated within the case.

Advocate Niresh Mathew, who represents six accused individuals within the case, mentioned that the findings by the NIA, customs and the ED contradict one another. “Even the statements of witnesses and accused persons collected by these agencies are different. While the NIA gives a clean chit to the UAE diplomats, thecustoms issued a show-cause notice to them. When the customs and the ED claim Sivasankar as a key conspirator, the NIA has no case against Sivasankar and he is not even a witness for the agency. The ED claims customs officials were contacted by the accused and Sivasankar to release the baggage. The same is denied by the customs,” he mentioned.

The query of why the customs dared to cease the parcel, even after figuring out that diplomatic baggage has safety, was answered just lately within the show-cause discover given to 53 individuals related to the case. “The supporting documents enclosed with the Bill of Entry were found to be not in accordance with the prescribed under stipulated format. Since there was a specific input, the consignment was withheld. Then necessary permission from the Ministry of External Affairs was obtained for verifying the veracity of the documents and to examine the cargo,” said the show-cause discover.

A senior official with the ED mentioned that intelligence enter led to the seizure of gold. “The mastermind of the smuggling, KT Rameez, had been approaching various investors in Kozhikode and Malappuram to invest money with him for gold smuggling. He had explained to the investors about using the diplomatic channel to safely bring in the gold. So many persons who are involved in the illegal gold business knew that such a route is operational and one of them might have leaked the information to the customs,” the official mentioned.

In her assertion to the customs, Swapna revealed that she was contacted by the UAE diplomats after the consignment containing gold was withheld on the airport. The diplomats instructed her about an influential one that will deal with the matter and assist in popping out clear. However, no company has been ready tounearth the identification of the influential particular person until now.

“The identity of such a person can only be revealed by the Consul General Jamal Hussain Al Zaab and Admin Attache Rashed. Both these diplomats have an active role in the gold smuggling incidents even though both of them are not present in India now,” a customs official mentioned.

The same thriller continues about jewellers who acquired the smuggled gold and offered it out there. The NIA arraigned 35 individuals within the case. The customs has a case towards 25 individuals. The ED filed complaints towards 5 together with Sivasankar. Other than the gold seized on the Thiruvananthapuram airport, no different restoration has been made.

“We had raided a few jewellery shops in Kozhikode and Malappuram. But no trace of the smuggled gold were found. In all gold smuggling cases, tracing the end receiver is a difficult task. The smuggled gold is handled by different persons before hitting the market. Though there are norms to make the source of gold accountable, there are enough loopholes to overcome the norms,” a customs official mentioned.