Kerala gold smuggling case: Swapna Suresh in judicial custody till October 8

Kochi: A Special NIA court here on Friday again sent Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, in judicial custody till October 8.

Suresh has been in National Investigation Agency's custody for the past four days and was presented in court after questioning.

She told the court that she would like to be shifted from Thrissur prison, following which the court directed that she be moved to a jail near here.

Even as her judicial custody was extended, the NIA team informed the court that it would need to interrogate her further in the case that has caused a political storm in Kerala.

On Thursday, the NIA had questioned her in the presence of now-suspended senior IAS officer M Sivasankar for over eight hours. Suresh has gone on record to say that Sivasankar, a former Principal Secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was her mentor.

The case first came to light when PS Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was arrested by the Customs on July 5 when he was allegedly facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in a diplomatic baggage from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram.

Suresh and her associate Sandip Nair were arrested by the NIA from Bengaluru on July 11.