Kerala Gold Smuggling Case: Special Court Sends 3 Accused to NIA Custody

The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court has sent three accused — Sarith PS, Ramees KT and Jalal AM — to NIA custody for three days.

Earlier, the NIA team, probing the gold smuggling case, had sought the custody of three accused persons in the case on Tuesday. The agency had filed a petition at NIA court in Kochi seeking the custody of Sarith PS, Ramees KT and Jalal AM for five days.

The move was taken after the team collected information from Sandeep Nair about the roles played by the three accused in the case. NIA wants to interrogate Sarith, Ramees and Jalal based on the details provided by Nair in his confession statement. Meanwhile, the court heard the bail petitions filed by Hamsath Abdusalam and Samju TM, another accused in the case.

They had claimed that their roles were minor compared to other accused persons as they procured gold only for monetary gain.

The NIA has been probing a foreign terror link in two similar gold smuggling cases. On July 3, Rajasthan Police seized gold weighing 18.5 kgs and another racket involving illegal transportation of gold bars, weighing over 83 kg, was uncovered by the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) in New Delhi on August 28.

However, the officials have so far denied any connection of Delhi and Jaipur gold smuggling cases with Kerala.