Operation Golden Dawn: 101-kg gold seized; 10, including 7 Sudanese, held
DRI officials have identified five accused, three from India – Saif Sayyed Khan, Shamsher Khan and Manish Prakash Jain – and the other two from Sudan – Musab Mahmoud Nory and Musab Hassan Elhasaan.
Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials busted a major international gold smuggling racket and arrested 10 members of the gang, including seven Sudanese nationals, in a pan India operation called “Operation Golden Dawn.” Around 101.7 kg of gold worth ₹51 crore was also seized.
DRI officials have identified five accused, three from India – Saif Sayyed Khan, Shamsher Khan and Manish Prakash Jain – and the other two from Sudan – Musab Mahmoud Nory and Musab Hassan Elhasaan.
“During the three-day operation, DRI sleuths raided multiple places, including four locations in Colaba and Zaveri Bazaar. The syndicate used the Indo-Nepal border route and the smuggled gold was being transported to Mumbai via train or air route after being brought into Bihar from Nepal,” said a DRI official.
On February 19, the agency officials intercepted three Sudanese nationals while they were boarding a train at Patna railway station which was destined for Mumbai.
“Gold paste weighing 37.13 kg in 40 packets were recovered from them, who had ingeniously concealed it in a specially made cavity of the sleeveless jackets worn by them,” said the official, adding that one of them was the handler, who was coordinating activities at the border area and arranging vehicles to transport the gold.
On February 20, two Sudanese women were nabbed in Pune while they were travelling from Hyderabad to Mumbai by bus and 5.615 kg of smuggled gold in assorted forms was recovered from their handbags.
“Mahmoud and Hassan travelling to Mumbai from Patna were intercepted at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus railway station on Monday. Gold paste weighing 38.76 kg was recovered from them, who had concealed it in their waistcoats,” said the DRI official.
Interrogation of the Sudanese prompted the DRI officials to raid four places in Colaba and Zaveri Bazaar, which were being used for extraction and storage of the smuggled gold. From here, around 20.2 kg of gold in assorted forms along with foreign currency worth ₹74 lakh and Indian currency worth ₹63 lakh were seized.
“Two Colaba-based brothers – Saif and Shamsher – were allegedly buying smuggled gold from the foreigners and selling it to a gold merchant – Manish in Zaveri Bazar,” sources said.
The investigators are further scanning the three Mumbai-based accused suspecting they have received huge amounts of smuggled gold in the past.
