DRI busts major gold smuggling syndicate in pan-India operation.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a syndicate involved in smuggling foreign-origin gold through land and train routes. In a meticulously planned and well-coordinated operation involving DRI teams across three locations, a huge quantity of smuggled gold, weighing around 31.7 Kg valued at around Rs. 19 crores, was seized in Varanasi, Nagpur and Mumbai on 13 and 14 October, 2023.
Acting on specific intelligence, the Nagpur DRI team apprehended two carriers of gold when they alighted at Nagpur railway station from a train that started from Kolkata. Foreign marked gold weighing 8.5 Kg was recovered from them. Following interrogation of the carriers, the DRI team also identified and apprehended two receivers of the smuggled gold.
The Varanasi team managed to apprehend two of the accused and their car when they were travelling in UP, after a 3-hour dramatic chase on the road and a search operation inside the forest, with the help of local police. About 18.2 Kg of gold was recovered from the duo and from a cavity made below the handbrake of the car.
The Mumbai team managed to trace five accused on the roads of Mumbai after they had travelled from Varanasi by train, carrying gold. The team recovered 4.9 Kg gold from them.
An interrogation of the accused revealed that the syndicate used to smuggle gold into India via the borders of Bangladesh and further diverted the same to Mumbai, Nagpur, Varanasi etc. With due diligence and coordinated plan of action, the DRI arrested 11 people -- five people in Mumbai, two in Varanasi and four in Nagpur. The arrested persons cover offenders at all rungs of the gold smuggling syndicate viz. carriers/passengers, handlers, and final recipients of the smuggled gold.
The operation shows the persistent ability of the DRI to work in a professional way to unearth syndicates that pose a threat to the economic security of the country. It also highlights the fruitfulness of inter-agency cooperation in such a pan-India operations.