NIA team in UAE to probe Kerala gold smuggling case

New Delhi : A two-member National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has gone to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in connection with its probe into the Kerala gold smuggling case, sources said on Monday.

A top NIA official associated with the probe told IANS: "The NIA team reached Dubai last night to investigate the gold smuggling case," adding that it will collect evidence on the involvement, if any, of Kerala officials.

The source said that the NIA team will also interrogate key accused Fazil Fareed and a couple of others who have been taken into custody by the UAE authorities.The NIA took over the case last month.

The gold smuggling case first surfaced when PS Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Kerala, was arrested by the Customs on July 5 when he was allegedly trying to facilitate the smuggling of 30 kg gold at the Trivandrum airport in Thiruvananthapuram through diplomatic baggage from Dubai.

Key accused Swapna Suresh and co-accused Sandeep Nair of Kochi were arrested by the NIA from Bengaluru after the case was handed over to the agency. The NIA has so far arrested 12 people in connection with the case.