DRI busts smuggling syndicate, seizes gold and diamonds worth ₹13.73 cr

The agency nabbed eight accused members of the syndicate, including six international transit passengers—four Bangladeshis and two Sri Lankans—at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport

MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted an alleged international smuggling syndicate, seizing 8.56 kg of smuggled gold dust in wax form, estimated to be worth ₹12.65 crore, brought illegally into India, and 1,168.97 carats of natural and lab-grown diamonds valued at ₹ 1.09 crore, which were meant to be smuggled out of the country.

The smuggled gold was concealed in 23 capsules.

The agency nabbed eight accused members of the syndicate, including six international transit passengers—four Bangladeshis and two Sri Lankans—at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), officials said on Friday.

The intelligence-led operation, internally known as Operation Carat-Karat Nexus, was conducted on Thursday. Apart from the six transit passengers, an Indian passenger and an employee of a third-party entity at the airport were also arrested, officials said.

A DRI team had kept the third-party entity’s employee under surveillance as part of the operation and intercepted him at CSMIA while he was allegedly handing over the diamonds to an Indian passenger bound for Dubai.

Meanwhile, six international passengers who had arrived in Mumbai on flights from Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, and Fujairah were intercepted while allegedly handing over gold dust in wax form, concealed in 23 capsules, to the third-party airport entity’s employee.

“Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officers launched an operation code-named Operation Carat-Karat Nexus, wherein eight members of the syndicate were arrested,” a DRI official said. “The DRI busted the syndicate’s two-way gold and diamond smuggling operation, exposing an organised network exploiting insider access to move high-value contraband across international borders,” he said.