Gold smuggling case: UAE police arrests Faisal Fareed, master brain behind the racket

KOCHI, July 19 (HS) The UAE Police has taken Faisal Fareed, the Dubai based master brain behind the Gold Smuggling using diplomatic channel, into custody. The news of his arrest has been confirmed by the sources in Kerala Police.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a look out notice against Fareed, who is based in Dubai and has sought the assistance of Interpol to get him in custody. The External Affairs Ministry had cancelled his passport which made it difficult for him to stay in UAE without official patronage.

The Customs and NIA sources claim that Fareed had smuggled 230 kg gold through diplomatic channel in Thiruvananthapuram Airport since 2019 with the assistance of staff in UAE Consulate. While the Customs seized 30 kg smuggled gold, efforts are on by the Customs and NIA to trace the remaining 200 kg of the yellow metal.

Meanwhile, the NIA is getting ready to question M Sivsankar, the suspended principal secretary of CM Pinarayi Vijayan. The NIA authorities have intimated the Chief Secretary of Kerala about their intention to question Sivsankar following disclosures made by Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair and Sarith Kumar, the three main accused in the gold smuggling racket.

The accused had confided to the NIA and the Customs about their closeness to Sivsankar and how he was in the loop about the gold smuggling operations.