Six held for smuggling in 14 kilos of gold, valued at ₹7 crore, from Myanmar

With the arrest of six men -- from Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal -- the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) on Friday claimed to have busted a gold smuggling

With the arrest of six men -- from Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal -- the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) on Friday claimed to have busted a gold smuggling racket and recovered 14 kilos of gold worth ₹7 crore from the arrested persons. Senior officers said the gold was smuggled in from Myanmar and was being transported to Delhi via road from Assam, in the absence of international flights.

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According to the DRI officials, the operation was executed on Tuesday and arrests were made simultaneously in Delhi, Mujaffarpur and Siliguri in west Bengal.

Deputy director Nilesh Rai said based on intelligence inputs, the Delhi unit of DRI acted and intercepted two men at Jewar toll plaza when they were headed to Delhi in a roadways bus from Guwahati via Siliguri. “Gold bars weighing 4.98kg were recovered from them,” Rai said.

“Simultaneously, on further information, our teams in Siliguri intercepted two passengers at a bus station when they were about to board a bus to Patna, Bihar. Their luggage was checked and 30 gold bars weighing 4.98kg were recovered,” Rai said.

The officer said teams kept building intelligence and in yet another operation in Patna, they intercepted two other passengers who had arrived there in buses from Guwahati. “Twenty-four gold bars weighing 3.982kg were recovered from the duo,” he said.

“Further inquiry revealed that all seized gold bars were smuggled into India from Myanmar. These were being taken to Delhi by road from Guwahati, via Siliguri and Patna. The gold bars were found concealed in the handles of stroller bags, inside inner wears and in specially modified waist belts,” Rai said.

He said the arrested men were using the road route, probably believing that the checking would be less stringent on highways as compared to airports.

DRI and other agencies have started cracking down on gold smuggling after a similar racket came to fore in Kerala on July 5. The customs had seized an air consignment bound for the UAE consulate at Thiruvananthapuram and found 30 kilos of gold, valued at ₹15 crore. The smuggling of gold using diplomatic channels triggered a political firestorm in the state with the opposition accusing the state government of abetting the racket.