DRI nabs five smugglers, recovers gold worth Rs 35 crore

In a major haul, Department of Revenue Intelligence seized gold worth Rs 35 crore concealed in the fuel tank of two trucks and five smugglers have been apprehended. As many as 400 gold bars each weighing 166 grams were seized and the gold was smuggled through Indo-Myanmar border meant to be delivered in Punjab reports ETV Bharat's Deputy News Editor Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi:In a major operation against smuggling of the gold into the country, the Department of Revenue Intelligence under the Ministry of Finance Thursday recovered over 66 kilogram of gold in national capital Delhi and apprehended five people, ETV Bharat has learnt.

The operation, which was carried out by the officials of Delhi Zonal Unit of DRI, resulted in the recovery of 400 gold bars, each weighing 166 grams and 2 trucks. The value of foreign origin gold is estimated to be Rs 35 crore.

“Acting on the specific intelligence, the officer's of DRI, Delhi Zonal Unit identified two trucks suspected to be carrying foreign origin gold, smuggled into India through Indo- Myanmar border,” an official source told ETV Bharat.

The officials brought these two trucks to the DRI office and a thorough search of the trucks led to the recovery of 66.4 kilogram of smuggled gold.

The smuggled gold was concealed in the fuel tank of these two trucks apprehended by the DRI officials.

Officials said the gold, which was smuggled through the Indo-Myanmar border, was to be delivered in Punjab.

“Five persons apprehended in the case are being examined,” said an official.

Indo-Myanmar border: New route for gold smugglers

In August this year, the officials of Delhi Zonal Unit of DRI had recovered 83.6 kilogram of smuggled gold from New Delhi railway station.

These gold bars with the 99.9% purity were also smuggled from the Indo-Myanmar border as the smugglers used the international land border at Moreh in Manipur to sneak into the country.

However, in the earlier case, the smugglers used the railway route to bring foreign origin gold to Delhi.

As reported earlier by ETV Bharat, DRI officials in August had apprehended 8 couriers carrying 504 gold bars worth over Rs 43 crore. These couriers were travelling in Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on the basis of fake identity (Aadhaar) cards.

In the earlier case, the couriers were using specially tailored cloth vests to conceal the smuggled gold.

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