Kerala gold smuggling case: Customs submits 3000-page Chargesheet; '167 kg gold smuggled'

In a breaking development in the Kerala gold smuggling case, the Customs has submitted a 3000-page prosecution complaint (charge sheet) at the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) court. The case pertains to the smuggling of 167 kg of gold on several occasions using diplomatic baggage in commercial flights. So far, 29 persons were called out in the formal complaint, including former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar, who is the latest accused. 

While former UAE consulate employee Sarith PS is the first accused, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair are named as accused two and three in the charge sheet. According to the Customs, KT Rameez was the mastermind behind the smuggling. Reports suggest that the smuggled gold was converted into ornaments and sold in the market, and reached the jewellery shops in Hyderabad.

The Customs have claimed that it could identify all the jewellers who received the smuggled gold but further seizures could not be executed successfully as the smuggled gold was converted to ornaments.

Customs has approached the Ministry of External Affairs to decide on arraigning the diplomats at Thiruvananthapuram, and the UAE Consulate including the former Consul General. So far, 59 people were questioned by customs and 167 kg of gold were smuggled in 21 operations, as revealed by the charge sheet.

Kerala Gold Smuggling Case

The competent authorities in Kerala have arraigned 29 people as accused in the case which hit the bulletin, where top bureaucrat and Principal Secretary to CM Pinnarayi Vijayan, M Sivasankar, was arrested. After spending several months in jail, the perpetrator has been released on a bail bond and was suspended from his service too. The probe in the case at hand did not lead to any iota of evidence of utilising the illegitimate money raised through smuggling, for any terrorist activities.

The Kerala smuggling case came to light on July 5, 2020, when the Customs arrested Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, for allegedly smuggling gold in a piece of diplomatic baggage consigned for the Consulate. The Customs department probed the Kerala gold smuggling case in which the Kerala CM's office was allegedly linked.