The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to chargesheet more persons, including Faizal Fareed, in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.
Faizal Fareed, whom the agency believes is the kingpin of smuggling operations, is not among the 20 accused it had chargesheeted but has been included in the list of other accused who have not been chargesheeted. The efforts of the agency to extradite Faizal Fareed have not succeeded so far.
Besides Fareed, the names of eight persons, including Malappuram natives Abdul Latheef Kappil, Sidhiqul Akbar, Muhmmad Aslam, Nazarudheen Sha, Ramsan Parancheri and Muhammed Mansoor and K. Ratheesh of Kannur and Muhammad Shameer of Kozhikode, have found mention in the list of accused submitted before the court. While five of them are employed in the United Arab Emirates, three are in real estate business in Kerala and one is employed as a driver.
The agency may bring up the charges against the remaining accused in the supplementary chargesheet that may be filed in due course.
Besides the charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), eight accused, including Ramees, Jalal, P. Mohammad Shafi, Saidalavi, P. T. Abdu, K.H. Rabins, Hamzad Abdusalam and T. M. Samju, will also face prosecution for the offences committed outside India.
The Hindu had earlier reported that the agency had laid down charges against 20 persons, including P.S. Sarith, Swapna Suresh, K.T. Ramees, A.M. Jalal and P. Mohamad Shafi, at the NIA special court on January 5. The NIA had invoked UAPA against the accused.
The NIA had charged the accused of forming a terrorist gang, recruiting people, raising funds and smuggling gold from the UAE through import cargo addressed to diplomats at the Consulate General of UAE, Thiruvananthapuram. The 20 were accused of committing crimes under Sections 16, 17, 18 and 20 of UAPA.
During the course of investigation, the agency scrutinised the mirror images of 65 of the 116 devices seized from the accused. The mirror images of 27 digital devices, which were seized by the Customs from the accused, were also obtained by the agency. The NIA said it was awaiting the cyber forensic analysis report from C-DAC, Thiruvananthapruam.
