The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached 30.24 kg gold valued at Rs 14.82 crore in connection with a money laundering probe linked to Kerala gold smuggling case.

The seized gold belonged to accused in the gold smuggling case Aboobacker Pazhedath, Abdul Hameed P. M., Jalal A. M., Rabins K Hameed, Abdu P. T, Mohammed Shafi, Hamjad Ali K., P. T. Ahmedkutty, Hamjad Abdul Salam, Shaijal, Muhammed Shameer, Razal and Ansil. Cash amounting to Rs 14.98 lakh belonging to Sarith PS and Swapna Prabha Suresh has also been attached.

The ED had initiated money laundering investigation, on the basis of an FIR registered by the NIA under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Sarith PS, Swapna Prabha Suresh, Faisal Fareed, Sandeep and others.

The customs department had registered a case relating to the seizure of 30.24 kg of 24 carat gold worth Rs 14.82 crore at Trivandrum International Airport. The said gold was camouflaged as diplomatic baggage to UAE Consulate, which has immunity from checking at airport as per Vienna Convention.

The consignment was to be received by the accused Sarith PS, who had worked in UAE Consulate earlier as Public Relations Officer in complicity with Swapna Prabha Suresh, Sandeep Nair and others.

In the NIA case, accused Sarith PS, Swapna Prabha Suresh and Sandeep Nair were arrested by the ED on July 22 last year and the PMLA Court had remanded them to ED custody from August 5 to 17, 2020. They were subsequently remaded to judicial custody.

Another accused M Sivasankar, IAS, then Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Kerala was also arrested by the ED on October 28, 2020 and was remanded to ED custody from October 29 to October 12, 2020 and all four persons continue to undergo judicial custody.

“During the PMLA probe, it was revealed that accused persons had obtained the Proceeds of Crime in the form of 30.245 kg of smuggled gold valued at Rs 14.82 crore. The accused/suspects illegally routed the sale proceeds of previously smuggled gold to Dubai which was further used for purchase of next consignment of gold intended to be smuggled into India and recycled this process throughout the operations and thereby proceeds of crime generated out of gold smuggling previously was used to purchase the said 30.245 kg gold,” the ED said in a statement.

It was further revealed that the accused Sarith PS and Swapna Suresh had obtained the Proceeds of Crime to the tune of Rs 14.98 lakh.