In the latest twist to the infamous Kerala gold smuggling case, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued a notice to the UAE Embassy based on a 251-page report of the Indian Customs, which probed the case. The Customs report has named three employees who were attached to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. Of the three, two are UAE nationals and the third an Egyptian national.
The notice, which has now been given by the MEA to the UAE Embassy, is with regards to the two UAE nationals as part of the Customs’ probe. The controversial gold smuggling case pertains to the seizure of 30 kilograms of gold from Trivandrum International Airport, through a diplomatic baggage meant for Rashed Khamis Ali Musaiqri Al Ashmia, the acting Consul General of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, on July 5, 2020. Former employees of the Consulate Sarith PS and Swapna Suresh are the key accused in the case.
The Customs claims that there have been serious breaches of protocols in these meetings organised by the Consul General through Swapna Suresh and suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. In the report, it is mentioned that their investigations have allegedly unearthed illegal dealings of some state ministers with the UAE Consulate, as per the show-cause notice to three top former UAE officials working at the UAE Consulate — the Consul General, the Attache, and the Chief Accountant, IANS reports.
Soon after the gold smuggling case broke, the three top officials in the UAE Consulate, now in the dock, had left the country. Earlier this month, Customs had issued a notice to the ex-UAE Consulate officials in the case.
The gold had been smuggled through the diplomatic baggage multiple times between November 2019 and June 2020. The dollar smuggling case, which surfaced following the gold smuggling case, it was found that $1,90,000 (equivalent to Rs 1.30 crore) was allegedly smuggled by Khalid, the former finance head of the UAE Consulate, an Egyptian native, to Muscat in Oman. It is alleged that Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS aided him.