Kerala gold smuggling case: Accused Swapna, Sandeep taken to Kochi hospital for COVID-19 tests

Swapna Suresh, Sarith and Sandeep Nair of Thiruvananthapuram and Fazil Fareed of Ernakulam have been listed in the Kerala gold smuggling case as accused  

Kochi: Kerala gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair have been brought to Kerala's Aluva taluk hospital for medical checkup. According to sources, the duo will undergo COVID-19 tests too.

After the tests, the duo will be taken to National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) office in Kochi and later will be produced before NIA special court.

The NIA on July 11 arrested Swapna and Sandeep from a Bengaluru hotel. On July 12, they travelled to Kochi via road.

During the journey, Congress workers staged protests at Walayar, Paliyekkara, Chalakudy and Koratty.

The Kerala gold smuggling scam came to light after the Customs department seized 30 kg gold from an air cargo consignment from the UAE to the country’s consulate in Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday (July 5).

NIA nabbed the two accused who had been absconding for the last six days after tracing their phone calls.

Sources said that Swapna and Sandeep were arrested while they were planning to move to Nagaland. They were making plans to go from Bengaluru to a resort owned by Sandeep’s friend in Nagaland.