Smuggled gold worth Rs 3.5 crore recovered from train

MUMBAI: The Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized smuggled gold worth around Rs3.5 crore in an operation on a long-distance train.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized smuggled gold worth around Rs3.5 crore in an operation on a long-distance train. Three people were arrested on Friday.

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Based on specific information received by DRI, two passengers namely Suresh Rajpurohit and Natwar Chawda, who were travelling from Kolkata to Mumbai on Friday, were apprehended with 12 kg of smuggled gold. “A DRI team boarded the train at Igatpuri station (around 120km from Mumbai) and kept a discreet watch on the passengers. The said two passengers were apprehended while alighting from the train at Igatpuri railway station,” said a high-ranking officer.

The two “carriers” were grilled, after which they admitted carrying six gold bars of 1kg each in their bag packs. Some of the gold was concealed in a sleeveless jacket with six pockets made of canvas cloth. Investigations revealed both of them were working for one Mithesh Jain owner of M/s. Hidant Creations at Zaveri Bazar, the hub of India’s gold and silver trade in south Mumbai. “Jain was summoned to DRI office and statements of all three were recorded. Both the carriers have admitted to having travelled around 40 times to Kolkata. Jain admitted to having received around 700kg of foreign marked gold bars brought from Kolkata in one-and-a-half years.”