THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sumit Kumar, commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Kerala, said proceedings were on track in the smuggling case through diplomatic channels. Refuting charges of any slowdown in their probe, he told TOI in an exclusive interview on the anniversary of the racket getting busted in July 2020 that the agency had accomplished its first target of issuing show cause notices.
The investigation is progressing in the other duty evasion cases, he said. "The duty evasion cases of dates and Quran imports will be taken up subsequently. The currency case is also under probe... These cases have separate investigating officers and the probes are ongoing," he said.
The agency will be issuing supplementary show cause notices in the gold case to at least 12 more persons. "People including Faisal Fareed, who is expected to be brought back soon, will be arrested and questioned... Certain people are at large and they will also be brought to justice soon," he said.
Kumar said the agency was successful in identifying the destination and source of the smuggling syndicate. "The buyers and investors are among those who have been issued show cause notices... Many of the senders from the UAE are yet to be brought back, their names will come in supplementary show causes," he said.
On probe by various agencies, Kumar said the laws under which each of them function are different. "The ED basically follows money laundering. NIA probes terror funding... Only Customs or DRI can investigate smuggling under the Customs Act. Everybody involved in smuggling need not be involved in other offences," he said.
