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Samju TM, a resident of Kozhikode, has confessed to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that he procured 4,500 grams of smuggled gold from smuggler Mohammed Shafi and subsequently sold it through his father-in-law Shamsudheen’s shop, the agency claimed on Monday.
The ED carried out fresh searches on April 12 in Kerala gold smuggling case including at premises of KGN Bullion proprietor Nandu alias Nandagopal, Samju and Shamsudheen in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
During the Searches, Statement of Samju T.M. was recorded wherein he had inter-alia admitted that he had procured 4500 grams of smuggled gold from Mohammed Shafi (smuggler) which was subsequently sold through the shop of his father-in-law, Shamsudheen to end customers, the ED officially stated.
Samju has also been chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which too is probing the gold smuggling case.
Also read: Gold smuggling on the rise
During the course of the search proceedings, 7 immovable properties worth of ₹1.13 crore and gold worth of ₹27.65 lakh were found and seized, the agency revealed.
The ED swung into action on the basis of an FIR NIA registered to probe the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case consequent to the seizure of 30.245 kgs of smuggled gold by Customs (Preventive) at Trivandrum International Airport, which was camouflaged as diplomatic baggage of UAE Consulate, Thiruvananthapuram. The accused, Sarith PS, Swapna Prabha Suresh and Sandeep Nair were arrested on July 22, 2020, by the ED.
Later, it also emerged in probe that M Sivasankar, IAS, then Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of Kerala was also involved in assisting the accused persons in gold smuggling. Sivasankar was also arrested by ED on October 28, 2020.
On December 23, 2020, the ED had also issued Provisional Attachment Order for seizing fixed deposits in bank accounts and cash seized from bank lockers totalling to Rs. 1.85 crore (belonging to Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair, Sarith and Sadan Kumar, F/o Sarith), which was duly confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority (PMLA), New Delhi. A Supplementary Prosecution Complaint against the accused including Sivasankar was filed on December 24, 2020.
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