Thiruvananthapuram : In the latest development on the gold smuggling front, the absconding suspect Swapna Suresh petitioned the court via e-mail seeking anticipatory bail.
In her plea, Swapna claims she has no links to or knowledge of gold that arrived in diplomatic baggage on 5 July. Both she and Sarith, one of the prime accused in the case, were former UAE employees. After she left the job in 2016, the Consulate intermittingly sought her services on casual basis, some of which pertained to services at airports including Nedumbassery, Swapna claimed in her e-mail. She submitted emails from consulate that she claimed to be evidences of such requests from consulate.
In the present case, Swapna claims, her role was purely that voluntary assistance of similar kind . According to her, the UAE consulate emailed her asking to find why the diplomatic baggage was unusually delayed in clearance. Following the request, Swapna called Customs at the airport and learnt details as briefed to her and emailed the information back to consulate, Swapna tells the court.
Customs officials meanwhile refuse to buy the story and hint they had evidences that might point to a more active involvement in the racket, than Swapna claims.
