Siliguri (West Bengal): The Director of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 72 gold biscuits weighing 11.952 kg valued at Rs 5 crore in three separate raids from the Indo-Bangladesh border on Thursday.
Five persons have been arrested in this connection from Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. The accused have been identified as Sanju Pramanik, Mizanur Pramanik, Rafiqul Islam, Ismail Haque and Matiur Rahman. All are residents of Cooch Behar.
The consignment of gold was being transported from Cooch Behar to Kolkata. According to DRI officials, the accused were trying to mislead the cops by transporting the consignment in two separate groups through different routes. The first group included Sanju, Mizanur and Rafiqul while the second group had Ismail and Matiur.
Acting on a tip-off, DRI officials formed two teams and launched an operation. The first raid was conducted in Pundibari of Cooch Behar. Sanju, Mizanur and Rafiqul were arrested from a bus and 43 gold biscuits were recovered from them. They had wrapped the gold biscuits in a cloth and tied it around their waists.
After interrogating the trio, DRI arrested Ismail from Kanchankanya train at Hasimara Dalgaon station. Fifteen gold biscuits were recovered from him.
The fifth member, Matiur was arrested from Padatik Express during a raid at the Alipurduar railway station. The DRI team recovered 14 gold biscuits from him. Matiur had stuck the biscuits round his stomach with a cellotape
All five were produced before the Siliguri Sub-Divisional Court on Thursday and were ordered 14 days of jail custody. Government lawyer Ratan Banik said investigations are on to ascertain whether anyone else is involved with them.
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