16 kg gold seized, one held

Kolkata: About 16 kg gold, valued at Rs 4.81 crore was seized in Manipur and one person has been arrested, an official said here on Saturday.

The gold was being smuggled into India through the India-Myanmar border.

"Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), in a joint operation with Assam Rifles, seized the gold. It was sourced from India-Myanmar border at Moreh in Manipur," a DRI official said.

He further said: "A car travelling from Moreh towards Imphal was stopped for checking at Khudengthabi (in Manipur). While frisking the passenger and carrying out thorough inspection of the vehicle, gold biscuits were found hidden inside a secret cavity of the vehicle chassis."

He said the northeastern region including the state of Assam, having boundaries with Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and China is particularly sensitive from the perspective of smuggling activities and cross-border crime.

"There have been significant seizures of gold bars of foreign origin smuggled from Myanmar through India-Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh and also from the Zokhawthar in Mizoram, along India-Myanmar border," he added.

During the current fiscal, the DRI, in the region across West Bengal and northeastern states, has seized close to 300 kgs of gold valued at Rs 90 crore, smuggled from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.