NEW DELHI: Six people were arrested and valuables worth over Rs 14.13 crore were seized across India during the crackdown of an organised syndicate involved in gold smuggling, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Sunday.
“In total, 8286.81 grams of gold valued at Rs 13.41 crore, 7350.4 grams of silver valued at Rs 19.67 lakh, and Indian currency amounting to Rs 51,74,100 were seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962,” the agency said.
Acting on specific intelligence, officers of DRI intercepted a passenger who had arrived from Kolkata by train at New Delhi Railway Station with foreign-marked gold meant for delivery to a receiver outside the station.
Both the carrier and the recipient were apprehended. Based on the disclosures, follow-up searches were conducted in Delhi which led to the detection of an illegal gold melting facility used for defacing foreign-origin gold before its disposal in the local bullion market. Additional gold, silver and Indian currency were recovered from the premises and the manager operating the facility was also apprehended.
Further investigation led to Kolkata, where the mastermind of the syndicate was traced to another illegal melting unit along with more defaced gold. He was apprehended along with two carriers, who admitted that foreign-marked gold smuggled into India had been received by them, melted to remove identifying markings, and would have been transported to Delhi through rail route for further distribution.
All six persons involved in the smuggling, transportation, melting and disposal of gold have been arrested and produced before the competent court. “Further investigation is in progress,” agency said.
In January this year, the federal agency busted another major trans-border gold smuggling syndicate and seizes gold worth over Rs 40 crore and cash worth Rs 2.9 crore during raids at Delhi and Agartala.
In total, five members were arrested and during probe the agency had found that the syndicate was smuggling gold into India through the Indo–Bangladesh border with Tripura, and subsequently transporting it to Delhi through domestic cargo services with the active connivance of handlers based in Dubai, Bangladesh and local operatives running jewellery shops in Agartala.