BHUBANESWAR: THE Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Sunday seized gold worth `30 lakh that was allegedly being smuggled into the city through Biju Patnaik International Airport. Two persons arrested by the DRI in this connection have been identified as Bharat Suresh Lal Tulsiyani and Akash Kumar Makhijiani.
According to sources, the sleuths swooped down on the suspects on the basis of a specific tip-off which stated that gold was being smuggled to Bhubaneswar on Sunday. The officers intercepted Tulsiyani and Makhijiani who had reached here on Air Asia flight AK-31. The flight landed at BPIA at 11:25 pm.
On a thorough search, six pieces of gold weighing 661 grams was recovered from Tulsiyani who was travelling from Bangkok to Bhubaneswar. He belongs to Kolhapur in Maharashtra. Another person, Makhijiani was carrying 400 grams of gold, cut into pieces.
Makhijiani, a native of Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, was travelling from Singapore to Bhubaneswar via Kuala Lumpur, ADG of DRI (Hyderabad Zonal Unit), MK Singh said. “Both of them concealed gold in their rectum and were attempting to smuggle it into the country. The smuggled gold has been seized under the Customs Act of 1962,” Singh added.