Third charge sheet filed by ED in Kerala gold smuggling case

New Delhi: An official announced on Monday that the third charge sheet (second supplementary charge sheet) in the Kerala gold smuggling case had been filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The charge sheet was submitted when Ramees K.T., the suspected kingpin of the gold smuggling organisation, was questioned by the ED after his recent arrest.

Ramees is now being held in judicial custody after being taken into custody by the ED on April 5.

The ED initiated a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) investigation based on an FIR lodged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Kochi, following the seizure of 30.24 kg of smuggled gold by Customs at Trivandrum International Airport. The gold was camouflaged as diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

During the course of his interrogation, Ramees was confronted with over 2,000 voice memos of Telegram chats between him and his associates involved in smuggling.

"Ramees revealed the names of various investors who sponsored the gold smuggling, including persons from Dubai, as well as the names of some beneficiaries. The investigation conducted revealed that 27 accused persons were involved in the offence of money laundering, and they have now been charge-sheeted," the official said.

Previously, P.S. Sarith, Sandeep Nair, M. Sivasankar, and Swapna Prabha Suresh were arrested by the ED in the case.

Additionally, two provisional attachment orders for the attachment of various movable properties amounting to Rs 16.80 crore were issued in the case.

The total attachment of properties in the case to date amounts to Rs 21.50 crore, the official said.

With inputs from IANS