New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has given permission to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team to go to the UAE as part of the investigation into the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case.
The NIA team mainly plans to question Faisal Fareed, who is in the custody of the UAE police. Faisal's passport was revoked earlier.
The Ministry of External Affairs has been in touch with the UAE over the procedures, according to government sources.
The NIA has arrested 12 people in connection with the gold smuggling case so far. Permission of the UAE was also sought to record the statements of the attaché in Thiruvananthapuram.
A multi-agency probe was initiated after the Customs seized 30kg of gold from a diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram last month. The Home Ministry had directed the NIA to take over the probe. Two of the accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair were nabbed from Bengaluru by the NIA, while another accused P S Sarith was arrested by the Customs.
Detailed examination of statements
Meanwhile, the interrogation of all the accused, who are in custody, has been completed.
The NIA and Customs will now check their statements in detail. The accused will have to give explanations if there are discrepancies in their statements.
The NIA will also question Swapna, Sarith and Sandeep again.
The accused are currently under the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing their links to money-laundering.
The Customs had also questioned certain people, suspected of receiving the smuggled gold, on Saturday.
Swapna's commission?
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the government cannot be held responsible if gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh had received Rs 1 crore as commission in connection with the Life Mission project.
"The government allotted land when the UAE Red Crescent Authority offered to support the Life Mission Project. The government has not interfered in any other matter. Swapna was then an employee of the UAE Consulate. If there are irregularities in any of their tasks, what can we do?" the CM asked.
The Life Mission project aims to provide houses for the homeless. The Red Crescent had offered the aid after the CM sought assistance, following the massive floods of 2018. This aid is being used to construct 140 flats on two acres of government land at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur.
After Swapna was arrested in the gold smuggling case, the NIA had recovered Rs 1 crore from the bank locker. However, Swapna said this was the commission she received in the Life Mission project, putting the government in a fix.
When reporters asked if this proved Swapna’s 'hold' at the administrative level, CM Pinarayi rebuffed the questions.
