New Delhi, Dec 24 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has provisionally attached fixed deposits along with seized cash recovered from the bank lockers totalling to Rs 1.85 Crore in Kerala gold smuggling case including that of Rs one crore of the former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of Kerala M Sivasankar.

Mr Sivasankar was arrested by the agency on October 28 and he is in judicial custody at present.

The central financial probe agency initiated investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act,2002 (PMLA)on the basis of National Investigation Agency’s ( NIA) FIR filed before the Kochi NIA Special Court against Sarith P S, SwapnaPrabha Suresh, Faisal Fareed and Sandeep Nair under section 16, 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).

The Cochin Customs Commissionerate (Preventive) had seized 30 KG gold worth Rs 14.82 crore at Trivandrum International Airport on July 5 this year. The seized 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 was a Public Relations Officer in UAE Consulate in complicity with Swapna Prabha Suresh, Sandeep Nair and others.

During the course of investigation the probe agency revealed that the accused persons namely Sarith P S, SwapnaPrabha Suresh, Faisal Fareed and Sandeep Nair were indulged in illegal smuggling of gold to India and huge amount of “Proceeds of Crime” (POC) were generated.

“Identified POC totalling to Rs 1.85 belonging to the accused persons have been provisionally attached under PMLA”, the ED said, adding that further investigation in this case is under progress.

UNI AKS RJ 2018