THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the arrest of Sivasankar for dollar smuggling, the Customs is now targetting Khalid, an Egyptian citizen and former accountant at the UAE Consulate. Customs has issued an arrest warrant against Khalid, the third accused, and issued a search notice through Interpol. Khalid has no diplomatic protection and will have to face legal action here.

The dollar was transported from Thiruvananthapuram to Cairo, Egypt via Muscat. Customs officials have to find out those VIPs in Muscat who were allotted money. Customs has questioned Dr Kiran, the dean of a college in Muscat, and Lafeer, the owner of the college, who accepted the dollars. On November 14, Kerala Kaumudi had reported that Shivshankar would be charged with dollar smuggling.

Swapna Suresh has revealed the names of the VIPs who were involved in the dollar smuggling. It was Swapna and Sarith who used to accompany to Oman for dollar smuggling. There are indications that Swapna made a statement that the bribe money was smuggled in dollars for some high officials in Kerala.

The court observed that the statement submitted in the customs sealed envelope contained the names of superiors and placed the investigation under the control of the court. Customs is planning to intensify the case by turning Axis Bank Manager Sheshadri, who handed over the dollars, into an approver. The statement of the bank officials that the dollar was handed over due to Sivasankar's intervention is crucial. Sheshadri Iyyer, the branch manager of Karamana branch, is under suspension.

Sivasankar is accused of conspiring to smuggle $ 1.90 lakh (Rs 1.40 crore) abroad by pressurizing banks. In June, Sivasankar had intervened to get five tickets for Swapna to take foreigners to Dubai on an Air India flight. It is suspected that foreign currency was also smuggled in their luggage. Customs has collected information from drivers who delivered bags containing dollars to the consulate. Its next moves towards VIPS involved in dollar smuggling may create turmoil.