Chennai, Sep 9 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence and business premises of a goldsmith in Coimbatore as part of its ongoing probe into the Kerala gold smuggling case, police said. A four-member NIA team reached the residence of Nandakumar in Coimbatore this morning to carry out the searches. Further details are awaited. The gold smuggling case surfaced when PS Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested by the Customs on July 5 when he was allegedly facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage from Dubai. It turned murkier when the name of Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the Consulate but since employed with the Kerala IT Department, surfaced. Her links to now-suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, who was then Principal Secretary to the Chief as well as IT Secretary, also came out. /IANS