DRI seizes smuggled gold worth Rs 4.88 cr, 2 arrested

The officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Sunday arrested two gold smugglers from outside Mahatma Gandhi Road Metro station and seized gold biscuits weighing around 16 kg from their possession.

Acting on a tip-off, the senior DRI officials were the Metro station and identified the two accused who were carrying 140 gold biscuits under their clothes. The officials intercepted the accused red-handed when they were buying some cigarettes from a stall situated outside the MG Road station this morning.

The accused were remanded to judicial custody after being produced before a city court on Sunday afternoon. It was learnt that one person was carrying 60 biscuits while the other 40 biscuits taped around their bodies. They were wearing loosely-fit clothes so that none can guess what the accused were carrying under their clothes. The market value of these biscuits would be around Rs 4.88 crore.

The DRI officials came to know during interrogation that the two accused, residents of Nadia, had brought the gold biscuits from Bangladesh. They entered the country by using the international border at Nadia.

The investigating officials came to know that the accused took a Sealdah-bound local train from Ranaghat station and got down at Dum Dum station where from they took a Metro. They de-boarded the train at MG Road station. The accused were going to Burrabazar area, the DRI officials came to know. They were also trying to know if they had any plan to smuggle these gold biscuits to any parts of the country or outside. They, however, suspect that some persons are involved in the racket.

The DRI officials are also trying to know the names of the other persons involved in the racket and also to confirm if it was a part of an international smuggling racket operating from the state. The DRI officials were also investigating if the accused were trying to sell off the gold biscuits to some persons in Burrabazar or not. According to preliminary investigation, police suspect that the gold biscuits were made in Switzerland and Dubai and later they were smuggled to Bangladesh.

These two accused were assigned to bring the gold biscuits from the neighbouring country. It may be mentioned that on April 15, DRI seized 11.5 kg gold worth Rs 3.47 crore from a hotel near Sealdah station and had arrested two persons for their involvement.