New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 6.61 kg of foreign-origin gold valued at about ₹10.36 crore and arrested 11 people in an alleged courier-based smuggling network that supplied consignments to Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the Finance Ministry said.
The coordinated operation on September 23 and 24 covered Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Guwahati. One of the alleged masterminds was among those arrested.
Gold consignments bound for Delhi intercepted
According to the Ministry, intelligence indicated that gold was being smuggled across the India–Bangladesh border through West Bengal and Assam, then moved to other parts of the country in courier parcels.
Officers intercepted consignments booked in Guwahati and Kolkata for delivery in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Seven recipients were apprehended. Searches at the premises of consignors and shippers in Kolkata led to three more apprehensions, followed by the alleged coordinator of dispatch and delivery in Mumbai.
Small parcels and paper entities under scrutiny
DRI said the network divided the gold into small consignments for distribution in the domestic market. Investigators found that the consignors, shippers and recipients were paper entities or persons without legitimate gold transactions, according to the official account.
The recovered gold bars were seized under provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
₹475-crore movement alleged over nine months
Preliminary examination of documents indicated that the same network had transported and delivered approximately 318 kg of smuggled gold, valued at around ₹475 crore, during the first nine months of the year, the Ministry said.
That figure relates to the alleged scale of the network’s earlier operations; the gold recovered in the latest action weighed 6.61 kg. Further investigation is underway.
