Swapna Suresh, one of the main accused in the gold smuggling case, has been arrested. It is learned that they were taken into custody by NIA from Bengaluru. Former consulate employee Sarit Kumar is the first accused and Swapna Suresh is the second accused. The third accused is Faisal Fareed, a native of Kochi and currently settled abroad. Sandeep Nair is the fourth accused in the case.
In a anticipatory bail application filed in the Kerala High Court, Swapna said that the customs are ready to defend the accused based on media reports. According to her she inquired about the diplomatic bag containing the gold was delayed as requested by Attache. Swapna end the job at the consulate in 2019, but her free service continued even after that.
A special team was deployed by the Kerala police to arrest Sandeep and Sandeep at the request of customs officials. A special police team was formed under the leadership of Poonkuzhali. The main accused was arrested within hours of the start of the investigation by the special team. The group also has coordination with Customs and the NIA. The special team was allowed to conduct any kind of inquiry anywhere. The probe was under the supervision of Kochi Commissioner Vijay Sakkar. Customs officials had e-mailed the application to the commissioner seeking help in locating the culprits.
