Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday informed a Special NIA Court in Kochi that two main accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case in Kerala, Faisal Fareed and Rabins, have been arrested by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Police.
Faisal, who owns a luxury gymnasium and automobile workshop in Dubai, was arrested by the UAE Police in July after Interpol, on the request of India government, had issued a Blue Corner notice against him. His passport too was blocked.
The NIA had charged Faisal with forgery, aiding and abetting terrorism, and complicity in smuggling. When early reports about Faisal Fareed came out, Faisal had denied it to the media. But when the agency confirmed that he was indeed the culprit, Faisal went into hiding. His house in Kodungallor was also raided.
Rabins was nabbed after Customs learned of his involvement in aiding Faisal Fareed to smuggle gold. It was also learned that he had hawala transactions in Dubai.
Faisal is said to have arranged for the gold that was smuggled through the diplomatic channel into Kerala. He would buy gold in Dubai and the UAE after Sandeep Nair, the fourth accused in the case, would send him money through the hawala route, investigators have said.
About 200 kg of gold was smuggled into the country in this manner since June 2019 till the racket was busted on July 5. The diplomatic baggage with 30 kg of smuggled gold worth about Rs 15 crore that was seized at the Trivandrum airport was addressed to Rashed Khamis Al Shameli, the Charge d’Affaires of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
Swapna Suresh and P S Sarith Kumar, two former employees of the consulate, are the first and second accused in the smuggling case.
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