DRI arrests 6, seizes 16 kg smuggled gold, ₹2.65cr cash

The agency began its crackdown, across Tuesday and Wednesday, on the syndicate on receipt of specific information about its alleged involvement in smuggling gold and its sale in the illicit markets, after which premises used for the sale/purchase of such smuggled gold were searched

MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of Mumbai zonal unit has busted an alleged gold smuggling syndicate in the city, seizing 16.47 kg of gold valued at ₹10.48 crore and cash of ₹2.65 crore. The agency also nabbed six alleged members of the syndicate, including the masterminds.

DRI arrests 6, seizes 16 kg smuggled gold, ₹2.65cr cash

The agency began its crackdown, across Tuesday and Wednesday, on the syndicate on receipt of specific information about its alleged involvement in smuggling gold and its sale in the illicit markets, after which premises used for the sale/purchase of such smuggled gold were searched. During the search operation, 10.7 kg of allegedly smuggled gold of foreign origin, mainly in the form of bars, along with cash of ₹1.8 crore, suspected of being sale proceeds of smuggled gold, were seized by the DRI.

During the search, the DRI officers identified and intercepted two alleged members of the syndicate. A subsequent search was done at one of the two intercepted members’ residences, identified as a handler of the syndicate, and smuggled gold weighing 3.77 kg was recovered and seized, agency sources said. Based on further information, a search team was sent by the DRI to the residence of two masterminds / key controllers of the syndicate on Tuesday.

Upon seeing the search team, the mastermind managed to throw away purported incriminating articles from his 14th-floor residence. The DRI team however recovered ₹60 lakh in cash from the premises, the sources said. After a 15-hour-long search operation, the agency seized three mobile phones and two foreign-origin gold bars of 1 kilogram each, belonging allegedly to the mastermind, from two locals who had allegedly stumbled upon the articles and kept them for themselves, according to the agency.

“On further information that the mastermind’s wife is also an active member of the syndicate and is attempting to flee in a car, a team was deployed to intercept her in the early morning of Wednesday and after six hours of pursuit, she was intercepted,” a DRI source said.

“During interrogation, she revealed that she had managed to get a safe, containing silver and cash that were sale-proceeds of the smuggled gold, moved from her farmhouse to her associate’s house in the intervening night,” the source said. DRI’s search at her associate’s house led to the recovery of 6 kg of silver and ₹25 lakh in cash, the DRI source said.