KOCHI: No officer from the Customs Commissionerate (Preventive), Kochi, probing the gold smuggling case leaked the statement given by accused Swapna Suresh regarding her acquaintance with journalist Anil Nambiar, a preliminary probe by the Customs has revealed. Instead, the involvement of an officer with another formation of the Customs is suspected to be behind the incident.
Earlier, Customs had suspected the involvement of two officers in the probe team behind the leak. However, their contacts were verified and no evidence was found against them.The allegation was first raised against Assistant Commissioner N S Dev who had taken part in raids in the state’s northern districts. A top Customs official said Dev was involved in the probe as he was also in charge of the Customs operations in north Kerala.
“Even before these allegations surfaced, tweaks had been introduced to streamline our work flow. The northern Kerala charge was given to another officer as Dev was struggling to manage the work in both Kochi and northern Kerala,” said the official. Dev will remain in-charge of the Legal Affairs of Customs Commissionerate (Preventive) Kochi. “He won’t conduct raids, but will look after legal matters,” he said.