DRI busts gold smuggling racket in pan-India operations, seizes 9 kg gold, Rs 8.15 crore in foreign currency
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "DRI busts gold smuggling racket in pan-India operations, seizes 9 kg gold, Rs 8.15 crore in foreign currency")
Representative image. Photograph: (Unsplash)
The Ministry of Finance said that the syndicate staggered the movement of carriers to reduce the risk of detection. They also operated a melting facility in a highly populated residential area of Delhi.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a Delhi-based gold smuggling syndicate that was reportedly smuggling foreign-origin gold from the North Eastern region to Delhi using multiple carriers travelling by different trains. During the operation, officials seized around 9 kg of smuggled foreign-origin gold, 42 kg of silver, foreign currency worth nearly Rs 8.15 crore, and Rs 26.67 lakh in Indian currency. Along with these developments, eight people have been arrested, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.
The ministry's release added that the syndicate staggered the movement of carriers to reduce the risk of detection. They also operated a melting facility in a highly populated residential area of Delhi. In addition, the DRI officers caught two carriers at New Cooch Behar Railway Station in West Bengal and Mansi Junction in Bihar on June 26, recovering nearly 2 kg of concealed gold bars.
During the same time period, two more people were arrested in Delhi with approximately 1.2 kg of smuggled gold. In response, the ministry stated that these operations allowed officials to detect an illicit gold-melting facility in Delhi, following which all four individuals were apprehended.
Woman arrested with 3.3 kg of foreign-origin gold bars
In another operation conducted the same day, DRI officials intercepted a woman travelling on a train from Sairang to Kolkata and seized 20 foreign-origin gold bars weighing about 3.3 kg. The gold had allegedly been hidden inside a specially designed waist belt. The woman was subsequently arrested.
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The investigation further exposed an international financing network allegedly linked to precious metal smuggling. As part of the probe, DRI officers in Chennai intercepted domestic air cargo shipments and recovered foreign currency worth nearly Rs 8.15 crore, including USD 758,500 and 3.5 million Thai Baht, according to the official release.
