A confident trickster who managed to steer her way into places of power

Swapna Suresh involved in a gold scam has the potential to derail Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

In Kerala, a 2013 case of sexual exploitation involving politicians in which inevitably it was the Sarita Nair who became the focal point of the solar scam scandal labelled “ice-cream Parlour case”.

Swapna Suresh hit the headlines on 5 July, when customs officials at Thiruvananthapuram airport, India, intercepted diplomatic cargo, meant for the UAE consulate office, and found 30 kg of gold worth  £1.4m  that was allegedly being smuggled.

Swapna Suresh allegedly the key link connecting various players in smuggling gold through the diplomatic channels using forged documents of the UAE consulate. Their gang included  Faisal Fareed in Dubai, his accomplice Sandeep Nair and K.T. Rameez in Malappuram, who allegedly takes over once the smuggled gold is brought out of the airport.  The operation has yielded  150 kg of golden harvest over the past 9 months according to NIA.

Swapna Prabha Suresh, a self-made woman started helping out her father in managing some of his small-time businesses in Abu Dhabi.  Her short-lived marriage to a Dubai-based businessman found her way to her home district, Thiruvananathapuram, where she spent the next ten years working in several travel agencies. She allegedly produced a fictitious B.Com degree certificate from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Maharasthra,  with her date of birth as 3 June 1981, dated 27 October 2011.

 She also raised her daughter from her previous marriage and also a son from her second marriage a few years ago.

According to NIA, she allegedly submitted to the HR department of Air India SATS, the ground handling wing of the government-owned airline in 2013.

In 2016, she landed a job in the UAE Consulate-General’s office in the state capital. Then she was hired as operations manager, Space Park, at the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited where it is alleged the principal secretary to the Chief Minister’s office and IT secretary, M. Sivasankar, facilitated the posting who was since been removed from both posts.

Swapna allegedly wielded considerable power in these workplaces at the expense of those she disliked.  The UAE-groomed  Swapna’s arrest on 12 July, it has emerged she was allegedly living two lives, one in the corridors of power and the other in the shadow where she allegedly rubbed shoulders with gold smuggling gangs.