South Mumbai jeweller nabbed in silver smuggling case

MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), probing the smuggling of 520kg of silver, on Thursday arrested a south Mumbai-based jeweller who had allegedly financed the syndicate. The DRI had on May 10 arrested a Delhi businessman, Gaurav Kushwaha, for allegedly smuggling the silver worth Rs 2 crore by misdeclaring it as consumer articles. During the probe, Kushwaha spilled the beans on the jeweller, Usman Gani Kumbhar, who runs a shop in Bhuleshwar at Zaveri Bazaar.
Kushwaha said that he had, under financial constraints, approached Kumbhar who invested money for smuggling silver. They were to make a profit of Rs 3,000 per kg by selling it to city jewellers. In the deal, Kumbhar would get Rs 2,000 and Kushwaha would get Rs 1,000 per kg.
Kumbhar visited China in December 2018 to survey the gold and silver market. "As there was huge demand and profit for silver, Kumbhar smuggled silver in bulk," said an official. He visited China again this March and smuggled 500kg of silver hidden under cutlery which is yet to arrive. Officials had earlier raided Kushwaha's house and seized Rs 4.5 lakh and also found that Rs 47 lakh had been deposited in his firm, Myras World's account.