Supreme Court
SC to examine if gold smuggling can be termed as 'terrorist activity'
New Delhi/IBNS: The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and the National Investigative Agency (NIA) to examine whether gold smuggling can be considered as "terrorist activity" under the sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), said media reports.
A bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai issued the notice while hearing a plea against an order of Rajasthan High Court, which had rejected a petition to quash an FIR filed by NIA under the provisions of UAPA.
According to media reports, Mohammed Aslam was caught with 1.5 kg gold at Jaipur International Airport last year on July 3 among 10 other persons. The police had seized more than 18.56 kg gold bars from them.
Challenging the arrest order, Aslam said NIA had no proof that the smuggled gold was intended for funding terrorist activity, and the case only attracted the corresponding provisions of Customs Act.
In the plea, Mohammed Aslam said that he had been working in Saudi Arabia since 2018 but lost his job during coronavirus induced lockdown. One person named Lal Mohammed contacted him to carry some gold and deliver to an unknown person in Jaipur for which he promised to give him a return ticket to Jaipur and Rs 10,000 cash. Since he was in acute financial distress, he was lured into the trap.
On July 5, Mohammed Aslam and nine others were produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody in the case filed by the Customs department.
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