Key official of gold smuggling investigation team transferred   

Kochi: An assistant commissioner who was a part of the Customs Preventive team investigating the seizure of 30 kg of gold in a diplomatic parcel at the Thiruvananthapuram airport cargo complex has been transferred.

N S Dev’s transfer is seen as a setback for the investigation team. However, his services would continue to be available as he will be in charge of the legal cell.

Dev is the second senior official to be transferred from the investigation team. Earlier, joint commissioner Aneesh Rajan was shifted to Nagpur.

It is false to say that he has been transferred, said Preventive Commissioner Sumit Kumar. “Dev has only been divested of some additional duties, including with the Kozhikode Customs Preventive division,” he said.

Dev was in charge of the legal department at the Kochi Customs Preventive commissionerate.

“He was handling the legal part of the Thiruvananthapuram diplomatic parcel gold smuggling case. He will continue in this capacity, and, therefore, his services will continue to be used in the investigation of the case,” said Sumit Kumar.

Dev led several inspections as part of the case in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. Within days of registering the smuggling case, Dev's investigative prowess helped the team detect its key links, including K T Ramees and Faisal Fareed, and the racket’s connection to hawala groups.

Now, since the investigation is now almost complete, most of the follow-up work will now mainly involve the legal department.