Gold smuggling on rise through northeast’s porous borders: DRI

Guwahati: The directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) has stated that there is spurt in smuggling of gold through northeast’s porous borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar and smugglers are deploying ingenious ways of concealment.
“While the porous borders have been used for smuggling in the past, 11 cases of gold seizures of 121 kg in September alone show that the NE corridor is still extensively being used by smugglers deploying ingenious ways of concealment,” the agency stated.
It said acting on specific intelligence and in three coordinated interceptions at Patna, Delhi and Mumbai, the DRI seized 65.46 kg of foreign-origin gold worth Rs 33.40 crore recently. This consignment from Aizwal to Mumbai in domestic courier consignment was concealed in gunny bags and declared as clothes.
“In yet another case of smuggling through the same route, the DRI seized another big haul of smuggled foreign origin gold weighing approximately 23.23 kg and valued at about Rs 11.65 crore, which was being smuggled from Myanmar,” it added.
It said acting on specific intelligence indicating that substantial quantity of foreign-origin gold will be attempted to be smuggled from Champhai-Aizawl, Mizoram to Kolkata, West Bengal by concealing them in vehicle, a coordinated operation was launched on September 28 and 29.
“The DRI officers mounted surveillance on the highway connecting Siliguri to Guwahati. Four passengers travelling in two suspect vehicles were identified and intercepted. After thorough rummaging of the two vehicles over a period of two days, 23.23 kg gold concealed in the vehicle body in the form of 21 cylindrical pieces was recovered,” it said.
The gold in this case was cast to fit in the specifically made cavity inside the cross-member metal pipe connecting the right and left rails of chassis behind the rear wheels and suspension in both the vehicles. The recovered gold had been smuggled into India from Myanmar through Zokhawthar border in Mizoram. Four persons have been arrested in the instant case so far.
In another nine cases in September, the DRI recovered and seized 27 kg smuggled gold form various carriers coming from northeastern part of the country to the rest of the country.
“These series of detections have helped unearth novel modus operandi of smuggling foreign- origin gold into India from the northeastern part of the country. Further investigation is in progress,” it added.