DRI seizes 12.5 kg smuggled gold worth 9.95 cr, arrests 6
The Mumbai unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday seized 12.5 kilogram of smuggled gold, worth ₹9.95 crore, and arrested six persons, including three airport staff and three suspected ‘receivers’ of an alleged smuggling syndicate
MUMBAI: The Mumbai unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 12.5 kilogram of smuggled gold, worth ₹9.95 crore, and arrested six persons, including three airport staff members and three suspected ‘receivers’ of an alleged smuggling syndicate, on Wednesday. With this, the agency has seized 36 kg of smuggled gold in the last two days.

The agency began its operation after receiving specific intelligence about a syndicate of airport staff, employed at a food court at the Mumbai International Airport, being allegedly involved in smuggling of gold, DRI sources said. The modus operandi was to receive the gold from international transit passengers and deliver it outside the airport to receivers, the sources said.
In its surveillance at the airport, DRI officers intercepted two such consignments of smuggled gold as these were being delivered outside the airport. “Three airport staff members who were delivering the gold and three receivers were apprehended in the operation,” a DRI source said.
On examination, the consignments yielded 24 oval-shaped balls of gold dust in wax form, packed in eight pouches. On assaying, 12.5 kilogram of gold, valued at ₹9.95 crore, was recovered by the DRI team.
The gold was seized, and the six accused were arrested under the provisions of the Customs Act by the DRI. “A very big syndicate involved in gold smuggling has been busted,” the source said.
In the last two days, DRI Mumbai seized approximately 36 kg of smuggled gold. On Tuesday, DRI officers had seized 23.92 kg of gold, along with ₹5.4 lakh cash and 37 kg silver, estimated to be worth ₹19.6 crore in total. The operation led to the busting of a gold extraction and refining facility and the arrest of the alleged mastermind of the syndicate that controlled the facility.

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