Not less than a month since customs officials seized 4.6 kg of gold in Pudukkottai town, sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence Wing from Aranthangi in Pudukkottai district on Saturday seized 10.2562 kg of gold from a private bus in the outskirts of Pudukkottai town.
Two persons detained in connection with the incident were being interrogated. The value of the gold seized is estimated to be worth `3.30 crore.
Sources said that officials of the Intelligence Wing received a tip-off on Saturday night about gold being smuggled in a Chennai-bound private bus, which left from Thondi in Ramanathapuram district. The officials alerted all the checkposts located along the East Coast Road (ECR), which is the key road to reach Aranthangi via coastal areas, including Manamelkudi and Kattumavadi. Officials also erected special checkposts along the main road and began checking all vehicles plying the route.
As they intercepted a private bus in Vandakottai on the outskirts of Pudukkottai town early on Sunday morning, the team found an abandoned cloth bag under a vacant seat in the bus containing gold biscuits weighing 10.256 kg.
Since there were only 10 passengers, the officials quickly questioned them, and detained two persons who gave contradictory replies, and later they confessed to the crime.
The officials took them and the confiscated gold biscuits to the customs office in Aranthangi. One of them was found to be a Sri Lankan national.
The bus driver and conductor were not aware of this. Further investigations are underway.