BHUBANESWAR: A day after the seizure of gold biscuits worth `4.99 crore and interception of two persons, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Friday launched a detailed investigation to ascertain the source of procurement of the yellow metal and possible links of persons who acted as conduits.
DRI officials suspect that the gold biscuits were either directly procured from Dubai or smuggled from neighbouring countries and then transported to India via Nagaland.
“Preliminary investigations revealed the two persons nabbed with the gold bars are carriers and they were going to a place near Mumbai. Though we suspect the metal could have been smuggled from China or Myanmar or Dubai, nothing has been established yet,” a senior DRI official said.
On Thursday, a team of DRI assisted by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel intercepted two persons from Mumbai-bound Jnaneswari Super Deluxe Express between Rajgangpur and Jharsuguda stations and seized gold bars weighing about 12.932 kg from their possession.
The investigating agency is interrogating the accused to find out their links and modus operandi. The gold biscuits were being smuggled to Maharashtra from Kolkata. “We are recording the statements of the two persons, who are under detention. Further course of action will be taken on Saturday,” the DRI official said.
Asked, whether the smugglers have any underworld links in Dubai, the official said, no such link has been established so far as it is difficult to get any clue in the preliminary stage.
DRI officials said gold smuggling via trains is not new as several such cases have been reported earlier. The scope of smuggling through railway route is more as the security deployment at railway stations is less as compared to airports, they added.