Swapna Suresh, Sandeep in NIA custody

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 11 detained two key accused in Kerala gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, from Bengaluru in a swift operation.

The two accused were on the run for the last six days after the Customs Department seized 30 kg of gold from an air cargo consignment in Thiruvananthapuram. They will be brought to Kochi in the early hours of Sunday, said an official. It is, however, not clear how the duo slipped out of Thiruvananthapuram, which is under a triple lockdown with an aim to contain the spread of coronavirus disease, and reached Karnataka.

The NIA had taken up the case on July 10 and filed first information reports against four persons in the case. In the FIRs, Sarith Kumar, a former employee of the consular office, who is now in the custody of the customs, is named first accused; Swapna Suresh is the second; elusive smuggling-kingpin Fazil Pareed is the third; and Suresh’s friend Sandeep Nair is the fourth accused. The FIRs were filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

It is the first time that the premier agency, which handles cases related to national security and terror, is investigating a gold smuggling case. In the FIRs, NIA said the accused were part of a well-entrenched smuggling racket.

The Kerala Police had set up a special group to arrest Swapna Suresh and Sandeep on July 11. The DGP had entrusted a special investigation team under the leadership of Kochi City Deputy Police Commissioner G. Poonkuzhali with the task of apprehending the accused.

The Customs authorities had requested the Kochi City Police Commissioner all help for the arrest of the suspects in an email by afternoon.
It is then that the NIA team arrested the accused in Bangalore.