NIA takes charge of gold smuggling investigation

Earlier, the central anti-terror probe agency had investigated a gold smuggling racket in Kerala following the recovery of over 30kg of gold, which arrived from the UAE on June 30, 2020, and was seized by Customs.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into another case of gold smuggling from the United Arab Emirates, this time at Delhi airport, to find out if there is a terror link and a larger conspiracy in the consignment, people familiar with the development said.

NIA will also investigate if the present case has any link with the accused named in the Kerala gold smuggling scandal  (HT file photo)

Earlier, the central anti-terror probe agency had investigated a gold smuggling racket in Kerala following the recovery of over 30kg of gold, which arrived from the UAE on June 30, 2020, and was seized by Customs. It was revealed in that case that the gold was smuggled in diplomatic cargo using forged authorization letters.

The latest case, too, was detected by the Customs department on January 12, when Mohammad Shahjan, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, was caught at Delhi airport with 175gm of gold and fake Indian currency notes worth ₹10 lakh upon his arrival from Ras-al-Khaimah airport in Dubai.

His associate Amir-ul-Haq, who came to receive the consignment, was also arrested.

Primary investigations revealed that Shahjan’s cousin Mujammil, who lives in Dubai, had asked him to take the consignment from one Abdul Kadir, alias Sheikh Sahab, in Dubai to take to India.

Efforts are being made to trace both Mujammil and Kadir in Dubai with the help of local authorities. Both are said to be Indian nationals.

“Although the amount of gold involved in the present consignment is not very high, but considering the UAE route has been used by smugglers in the past, we will investigate a terror angle and a larger conspiracy,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

NIA will also investigate if the present case has any link with the accused named in the Kerala gold smuggling scandal, he said.

A charge sheet filed in January 2021 by the NIA in the politically charged Kerala gold smuggling scandal stated that key players, P S Sarith Kumar and Swapna Suresh, used the seal and letter pad of the consulate general of the UAE in Thiruvananthapuram to issue forged authorisation letters to smuggle the gold through diplomatic cargo.

It said when Sarith, who worked as a public relations officer at the consulate between September 2016 and September 2019, was given responsibility of clearing import cargo of diplomats, he found out that consignments of the consulate were exempted from Customs inspections.