Customs officials in Kerala have taken into custody one more person who has alleged connections with the gold smuggling case.
The Kochi Customs Office summoned Hariraj for interrogation on Friday.
According to reports, Hariraj is part of the Air Cargo Association of India and had allegedly pressurised the customs department at the Thiruvananthapuram airport to release the diplomatic baggage which carried the smuggled gold.
Meanwhile, the attempt by investigating officials to procure visuals from the CCTV cameras installed in the Thiruvananthapuram airport to unearth more details has received a setback.
The cargo complex of the Thiruvananthapuram airport allegedly does not have any police CCTV cameras installed, the department confirmed. As part of the investigation, the customs department had asked for CCTV visuals from January from the cargo complex of the airport.
On Thursday, an audio recording purportedly of Swapna Suresh - key accused in the smuggling case - surfaced. In the audio clip released to Malayalam news channel News 24, Swapna has claimed that she is innocent.
This audio has emerged at a time when the Customs Department has asked Kerala police to trace Swapna who has not turned up for questioning.
Swapna has also applied for bail as the Customs department has implicated her for allegedly committing offences under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
On Friday, the customs moved the court requesting for Swapna’s bail plea to be set aside.