Six held in Siliguri for smuggling gold worth Rs 8 crore

Darjeeling: The Directorate of Revenue intelligence (DRI) busted a major smuggling racket of gold from Myanmar through Moreh in Manipur. Six persons were arrested from near Siliguri and more than 24 kg of gold, valued close to Rs 8 crore was recovered from them.

Acting on a tip-off DRI sleuths from the Siliguri regional unit intercepted a bus and arrested 6 persons. Twenty pieces each of 1kg gold bar along with 25 pieces of gold biscuits each weighing 166 gm was recovered from their possession. The seizure is valued at around Rs 7.99 crore.

The six arrested persons — Mohammad Numan, Mohammad Lukuman, hafiz Misbahuddin, Md. Zamil Ahmed. Md. Dawood Akhtar and MM Washim Khan —were travelling by bus from Manipur to Siliguri via Cooch Behar on Monday. The seized gold had been smuggled into India from Myanmar through Moreh in Manipur.

The accused are residents of Manipur and are involved in gold smuggling. During the last financial year, DRI seized 464 kg of gold from Bengal and Sikkim area allegedly smuggled in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China. The recovered gold is valued at Rs. 145.69 crore in the 46 cases registered claimed a DRI release.