NEW DELHI: A probe into the seizure of a large quantity of gold near the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in July 2024 has indicated that the gold smuggling syndicate behind the incident had smuggled 1,064kg of the precious metal into the country in 2023 and 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The July 9, 2024, seizure was made by a patrol team of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Actual Control, which caught two persons with 108 gold bars, each weighing 1 kg. The two suspects, caught in Sirigaple, Changthang sub-sector, in eastern Ladakh, were identified as Tsering Chamba and Stanzin Dorgyal.
ED subsequently also started investigating the money laundering aspect of the case.
“Investigation revealed that the smuggled foreign origin gold was being sent illicitly by one Bhu-Chum-Chum, a Chinese national, to an individual named Tendu Tashi in India via the Indo-China Border (Tibet Sector),” the agency said on Tuesday after carrying out searches at five locations in the National Capital Region (NCR) including Delhi and one location in Ladakh.
ED said Tendu Tashi was the mastermind of this syndicate and was “responsible for arranging the whole logistics for the transportation of the smuggled foreign origin gold bars from Ladakh to Delhi for its further disposal”.
The financial crimes probe agency statement said Tenzin Khandap, a resident of Tibet, “was the designated recipient of the foreign origin gold from Bhu-Chum-Chum and was tasked with transporting the said gold up to the Indo-China border and handed over the same to Indian porters on the Chinese side of the border”.
{{/usCountry}}The financial crimes probe agency statement said Tenzin Khandap, a resident of Tibet, “was the designated recipient of the foreign origin gold from Bhu-Chum-Chum and was tasked with transporting the said gold up to the Indo-China border and handed over the same to Indian porters on the Chinese side of the border”.
{{/usCountry}}“It has further emerged that on the instructions of Tendu Tashi, one Tenzin Samphel (uncle of Tenzin Khandap) recruited two porters to collect the 108 kg gold from China,” the agency said.
“ED investigation further revealed that Tendu Tashi has successfully smuggled 1,064 kg gold worth ₹800 crore into India from China border with the help of the other members of his gold smuggling syndicate during the year 2023 and 2024. The smuggled gold was delivered to individuals in Delhi who in turn sold it to various gold jewellers/dealers in Delhi. The payments for purchasing the said foreign-origin gold were made to Bhu-Chum-Chum on the Chinese side through cryptocurrency (USDT/Tether),” ED said.
The Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) is also investigating the case.