Kerala Gold Smuggling: High Court upholds preventive detention of accused in COFEPOSA Act

In connection with the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case, on November 9 the Kerala High Court upheld the preventive detention of the accused Rabins Hameed under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act. In addition, the Court dismissed the accused's wife Fousia Rabins' plea, seeking to quash the detention order. 

A Division Bench of Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Mohammed Nias CP upheld the decision. On November 2, the Kerala HC had granted bail to Rabins Hameed in the case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) but his detention was not terminated on account of charges pressed against him, under the COFEPOSA Act. Notably, Rabins Hameed was nabbed by the NIA on October 26, 2020, upon arriving in Kochi from the United Arab Emirates. 

Kerala Gold Smuggling case: Main accused released from jail

On the other hand, the main accused in the Kerala Gold Smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, was released from jail on November 6 after spending nearly 16 months behind bars. This comes after the Kerala High Court granted her bail on November 2 in a case registered by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). 

The court granted her bail on a Rs 25 lakh bail bond and two solvent sureties. Suresh was lodged at Women's Prison and Correctional Home at Attakulangara since July 12, 2020, when she was nabbed by the NIA from Bengaluru. Apart from her, the Kerala High Court had also granted bail to seven others involved in the case. In addition, on October 8, the Kerala HC had quashed Suresh's detention under the COFEPOSA Act.

Kerala Gold Smuggling Case 

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. Following this, Sarith PS, who worked at the UAE Consulate, was apprehended.

In addition, Swapna Suresh, an ex-Consulate employee working as the manager of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited and M Sivasankar, the ex-Principal Secretary to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan were also arrested. In January 2020, the NIA filed a chargesheet before the Special Court in connection with the Kerala gold smuggling case. 

The authorities had invoked various sections of the UAPA and had claimed that the conspiracy started in June 2019. The agency also alleged that the accused raised funds and smuggled 167kg of gold between November 2019 and June 2020 through the import cargo addressed to diplomats at the Consulate General of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram. Furthermore, it added that the main accused had planned to smuggle more gold from countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Holding them responsible for threatening the "economic security of India", the agency revealed that the probe against absconding persons and others who facilitated the crime was underway.

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