Kerala Gold Smuggling: There is evidence says court while rejecting Swapna’s bail plea

New Delhi, Aug 10: A special NIA court has rejected the bail petition of Swapna Suresh an accused in the Kerala Gold Smuggling case.

There is prima facie evidence that she was involved in the gold smuggling, the court also observed while rejecting her bail plea.

Gold and narcotics are the most preferred means of funding for terrorist activities. After the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, the agencies are on high alert regarding terror funding, the NIA had said while objecting to the bail plea.

The NIA said that the accused persons used the lockdown period to smuggle the gold and this shows the intent of these persons to destabilise the economy.

These persons smuggled 200 kilograms of gold on 20 occasions since June 2019, the NIA further submitted.

The agency has so far arrested 12 persons in connection with case. The NIA had said that there is a terror angle to this case. The NIA had also arrested one Muhammad Ali, who was charged by the Kerala police in connection with the hand chopping case involving a professor.

Last week, the NIA made six fresh arrests in the case. Ali was arrested after the investigation revealed that he was part of the conspiracy. He is alleged to aided and assisted arrested accused, Jalal A M in collecting the smuggled gold from Ramees K T at Thiruvananthapuram and distributing the contraband amongst other conspirators.

The NIA also conducted searches at six places. During searches, 2 hard disks, 1 tablet PC, 8 mobile phones, 6 SIM cards, 1 Digital Video Recorder and 5 DVDs were seized besides various documents including bank passbooks, credit/ debit cards, travel documents and identity documents of the accused.