Customs personnel on Sunday seized over 30 kgs of gold contained in a ‘diplomatic baggage’ that was meant for Consulate of the United Arab Emirates in the city, at the Thiruvananthapuram airport. Swapna Suresh, a former staff working as an operational manager at the UAE consulate in the city is touted to be the kingpin of the crime syndicate behind this failed bid to smuggle gold. Sarith, who was known to the PRO at USA consulate was taken into custody.
It is said that Swapna and Sarith were spearheading smuggling operations through the consulate and is being alleged that the duo earned 2 lakh for each transaction. They had smuggled gold in similar fashion earlier too. It was also reported that she had forged consulate documents to illicitly enjoy diplomatic immunity for smuggling the gold.
Swapna who has now been sacked after the gold smuggling case grabbed headlines, was also a consultant to one of the offices under the state government’s Information Technology ministry, a portfolio held by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Swapna is currently absconding and it is being alleged the state’s IT secretary Sivasankar is trying to shield Swapna and the links to Pinarayi Vijayan. Sivasankar is said to have been the person behind her appointment as operations manager at the Space Park under Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd (KSITI) which comes under the IT ministry held by CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
It is also being said that Sivasankar was a ‘regular visitor’ to Swapna’s flat raising questions about the illicit relationship between the two.
On Monday, Swapna’s house was raided by Customs officials for more than two hours. There are reports saying that Swapna was to be named as another accused in another case handled by the Crime Branch where Swapna while working with Air India is said to have filed a fake complaint against an official submitted an imposter as a complaint.
Swapna was given the plum posting at a sensitive location like Space Park despite warnings from the Crime Branch and the Intelligence wing. But, CM Pinarayi Vijayan has tried to brush it off saying that he had no knowledge of Swapna’s appointment.
However, photos have emerged on social media that shows CM Pinarayi Vijayan in close proximity with Swapna at an event.
Both BJP Kerala President K. Surendran and Congress opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala have demanded a probe on the smuggling case that is currently knocking on Pinarayi Vijayan’s doors.