Kochi: Strongly opposing the bail plea of Kerala gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday alleged in a special court here that she along with four co-accused had illegally brought in gold worth over Rs 100 crore through diplomatic channel since November last year.
In a detailed counter to the bail application moved by Swapna Suresh, the National Investigation Agency, probing the sensational case, also submitted that she had knowledge that the smuggled gold would be used for subversive activities and threaten the country's security and monetary stability.
"The accused A-1 to A-5 (P S Sarith Kumar, Swapna Suresh, Faisal Fareed, Sandeep Nair and K T Ramees) and others colluded and conspired to make use of this channel and smuggle gold along with the materials genuinely required by the foreign diplomats at consulate of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram. "Hence, instead of sending just the materials required by Consulate staff, co-conspirators including Fareed in UAE packed gold into various materials neatly hidden and submitted the baggage to the Air Cargo authorities at UAE," the NIA said.
On earlier occasions, since November, 2019, when such baggage reached Thiruvananthapuram Airport, Sarith collected it and handed over to Sandeep who in turn had taken it to his house and other places, opened it with the help of Ramees and other associates, the agency said. "The gold is then handed over to persons known and directed by A-5 to be used in lieu of cash for unlawful activities including funding of such activities," the NIA said and submitted that using this process, the five accused had smuggled in gold around 20 times since November, 2019.
"The total quantity of gold smuggled is to the tune of approximately 200 kgs, which is worth more than Rs 100 crores," it said in the counter.
Asserting that intensive investigation was required in the case to add value to the prima-facie findings that the gold smuggled could have been so used for anti-national activities, NIA said apart from Fareed, who is currently in UAE, other persons from the foreign country were also involved in such smuggling during earlier occasions.
"The petitioner also knew about the antecedents of all the accused while she transacted with them. It is also learnt during investigation that the initial money required for obtaining gold was funded by various persons with dubious antecedents and the money was sent abroad through hawala channel. The source of gold smuggled from UAE is also under investigation," the agency said in the counter.
The NIA said there was prima facie evidence to the effect that the accused intentionally committed the act which will fall directly under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
"It is revealed during investigation that the petitioner as well as other accused had knowledge that their act would threaten the security including economic security and affect monetary stability of India", NIA said. The agency also submitted the case diary before the court for its consideration.
The Court adjourned the matter to Thursday.
In her plea, Swapna alleged she was implicated in the crime on a wild imagination without any basis and the case was an offshoot of the "political rivalry" between the state and central governments, triggered by the colourful and fictitious stories aired by the media.
She claimed there was no prima facie evidence to attract an offence under Sections 15, 16 and 17 of UAPA.
Swapna and Sandeep Nair were arrested from Bengaluru on July 11 by the NIA. So far 12 people have been arrested by it in the case, which also led to the suspension of senior IAS officer M Sivasankar after allegations about his links to Suresh surfaced.
The case related to seizure of gold worth nearly Rs 15 crore from a "diplomatic baggage" at the Thiruvananthapuram International airport on July 5.
2 more arrested
The NIA has arrested two more persons in connection with the case on Tuesday.
Sharafudeen, 38, a resident of Malappuram in Kerala and Shafeeq, 31, from the state's Palakkad district were arrested on Monday after their roles in the conspiracy and pursuant smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE consulate at Thiruvananthapuram surfaced, an NIA spokesperson said.
During the custodial interrogation of K T Ramees, it was revealed that he was aided and assisted by co-conspirators Sharafudeen and Shafeeq in collecting the smuggled gold from Sandeep at Thiruvananthapuram and further distributing the contraband among other co-conspirators, the official of the premier investigation agency said.
Sharafudeen and Shafeeq were on Tuesday produced before a special NIA court in Ernakulam which remanded them to four days in the agency's custody for interrogation, the official said.
