A day after customs officials seized 30 kilograms of gold from diplomatic baggage addressed to the United Arab Emirates Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, it has been found that former employees of the consulate were involved in the smuggling case.
As per reports, a former employee of the Consulate, Sarith Nair, is under the custody of the customs department. Another former employee, Swapna Suresh, is absconding. Both of them were employees at the Consulate until six months ago.
After the job at the Consulate, Swapna was working as a contract official at Kerala government's Information Technology department. She was suspended from the IT department on Monday.
Before the job at the Consulate, Swapna had worked at Air India Sats, a joint agency of Air India Limited, and SATS Limited, that handles ground and cargo operations. There was also another case against Swapna for giving a fake complaint against an officer in the agency.
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Customs seize 30 kg gold from diplomatic baggage in Kerala
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Sarith was the former Public Relations Officer at the Consulate. He used a fake identity card to collect the diplomatic baggage with the smuggled gold.
The gold, worth around Rs 15 crore, was allegedly smuggled into the state in a chartered flight. As per reports, the baggage had reached the airport on Friday and officials confirmed it on Sunday.
According to sources in the Thiruvananthapuram airport, gold was smuggled in diplomatic baggage several times.
Although customs officials haven't given any official statement regarding the case yet, it is the first time that the officials seized the gold. Usually, customs officials do not have the permission to check diplomatic baggage; but this time, they had proper information about gold being smuggled into the country and had sought prior permission from authorities for the check.
The gold, which was in cylindrical shapes, was hidden inside steel pipes. The baggage, which also contained some door locks, air compressors and iron rods, was addressed to an officer in the Consulate. The sender’s address bore the name of the officer’s wife. But both the officer and the wife denied ownership of the parcel.
As per reports, more people are linked to the case and the officials have clear information about them.
06/07/20 News Minute
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As per reports, a former employee of the Consulate, Sarith Nair, is under the custody of the customs department. Another former employee, Swapna Suresh, is absconding. Both of them were employees at the Consulate until six months ago.
After the job at the Consulate, Swapna was working as a contract official at Kerala government's Information Technology department. She was suspended from the IT department on Monday.
Before the job at the Consulate, Swapna had worked at Air India Sats, a joint agency of Air India Limited, and SATS Limited, that handles ground and cargo operations. There was also another case against Swapna for giving a fake complaint against an officer in the agency.
____________________________________
Read:
Customs seize 30 kg gold from diplomatic baggage in Kerala
____________________________________
Sarith was the former Public Relations Officer at the Consulate. He used a fake identity card to collect the diplomatic baggage with the smuggled gold.
The gold, worth around Rs 15 crore, was allegedly smuggled into the state in a chartered flight. As per reports, the baggage had reached the airport on Friday and officials confirmed it on Sunday.
According to sources in the Thiruvananthapuram airport, gold was smuggled in diplomatic baggage several times.
Although customs officials haven't given any official statement regarding the case yet, it is the first time that the officials seized the gold. Usually, customs officials do not have the permission to check diplomatic baggage; but this time, they had proper information about gold being smuggled into the country and had sought prior permission from authorities for the check.
The gold, which was in cylindrical shapes, was hidden inside steel pipes. The baggage, which also contained some door locks, air compressors and iron rods, was addressed to an officer in the Consulate. The sender’s address bore the name of the officer’s wife. But both the officer and the wife denied ownership of the parcel.
As per reports, more people are linked to the case and the officials have clear information about them.
06/07/20 News Minute
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