DRI seizes 100 kg smuggled gold within 48 hours

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In a major crackdown on organised crime syndicates involved in smuggling of gold into India, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has, in a series of operations in the last 48 hours across the country, seized more than 100 kgs of smuggled gold. The raids were conducted in New Delhi, Siliguri, Bengaluru, Chennai and Madurai.

The seizures were a part of the continued crackdown by the DRI on gold smuggling and consequent leakage of government revenue, black economy as well as Foreign Exchange illicitly taken out of the country to make payments for such illegal import.

In a major operation conducted on October 26, the officers of DRI recovered and seized 55kgs of gold bars (55 pieces), smuggled from neighbouring countries into India through the land border. Smuggled gold was seized from the possession of two persons traveling by a vehicle near Siliguri in the evening of 26th October.

The smuggled gold bars were concealed in a specially prepared cavity under the driverâ¿¿s seat of the intercepted vehicle. The gold bars, each of which weighs one kilogram, have distinct Chinese and Australian foreign origin markings. All the gold bars are of 99.99 per cent purity. The gold bars were supposed to be delivered by the accused persons to a recipient at Siliguri for its onward transportation.

Both the apprehended persons have been arrested under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. In another operation conducted on October 27 in New Delhi, three persons were intercepted by the DRI at New Delhi Railway station carrying 34 kgs of smuggled gold. This consignment is also suspected to have been smuggled into India through the land border with the neighbouring countries. In this operation, one foreign national was also arrested. The smuggled gold was found to be of Chinese and Swiss origin.

In four other operations across the country in past 48 hours, DRI seized another 13 kg gold smuggled into India on flights arriving at Chennai, Bengaluru, Madurai and Indore airports from Colombo and Singapore. In three out of these four cases, gold was concealed under the life jacket pouch and hollow pipe under the aircraft seats.

There have been series of major seizures in the past few weeks by DRI including seizures of gold smuggled into India across land borders with China, Myanmar, Bhutan and on flights arriving from Dubai and Bangkok. This has been accompanied by a series of seizures of high-value foreign currency being smuggled out of the country. Gold and foreign currency smuggling seem to be peaking due to the forthcoming festive season resulting in high demand for gold in India.

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