Manipur: Gold biscuits weighing nearly 3 kg seized in separate incidents

In the first case, two people were arrested by custom officials for allegedly trying to smuggle 12 gold biscuits worth ₹62 lakh in their rectums.

Gold biscuits weighing nearly three kilograms were seized from alleged smugglers in Manipur over the last two days, customs officials said on Saturday.

According to customs officials, Rajinder Singh and Saroj Kumar Yadav had concealed six gold biscuits each in their rectums. (HT Photo)

In the first incident, two people were arrested from Imphal’s Kanglapat area on Friday evening for allegedly trying to smuggle 12 gold biscuits worth ₹62 lakh in their rectums, said officials of the Imphal customs division’s anti-smuggling unit.

The accused planned to travel to Dimapur in Nagaland by bus before boarding a train to Delhi, they said, adding that the gold biscuits appeared to be of “foreign origin”.

The two – identified as Rajinder Singh (34) from Amritsar and Saroj Kumar Yadav (23) from Khajuri in Bihar – were arrested on the basis of “specific information”, said assistant commissioner (Imphal customs division) RK Darendrajit Singh, adding that both had concealed six gold biscuits each in their rectums.

The collective weight of the precious metal came up to nearly two kilograms.

“We have registered a case under the Customs Act-1962, and are investigating the matter,” said Darendrajit Singh.

In the second instance, officials of the customs preventive force stationed at Pallel along the Imphal-Moreh highway seized five gold biscuits of “foreign origin” from Gopal Sarkar, a 30-year-old resident of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand, at Thamnapokpi village under Chandel district on Saturday morning.

There have been at least two more instances of law-enforcement agencies recovering smuggled gold in the recent past.

Thirty gold biscuits, weighing around five kg, were seized by the anti-smuggling unit of the Imphal customs division on April 24. That seizure, which resulted in the recovery of precious metal worth ₹1.5 crore, was also made on the basis of a tip-off, the customs official said.

A single arrest was carried out in that connection.

On March 9, 12 Assam Rifles personnel seized 97 gold bars amounting to ₹4.8 crore from a Maruti van that was plying from Moreh in Tengnoupal district to the state capital.