Smuggled gold worth Rs 8.38 crore seized on route to Guwahati

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday seized 15.93 kg of smuggled foreign-origin gold, valued at around Rs 8.38 crore, from three separate vehicles which were intercepted simultaneously at different location on the National Highway between Dimapur and Guwahati.

Five members of the smuggling ring were arrested and two oil tankers and a truck were seized during the DRI operation, which was codenamed 'Gold on the Highway'.

DRI sources said that the gold was smuggled through the Indo-Myanmar border. They added that operation 'Gold on the Highway' was launched on the basis of specific intelligence. The three vehicles were under surveillance from the moment they left Mao in Manipur for Guwahati via Dimapur in Nagaland.

The seized gold was in the form of 96 biscuits that had been carefully concealed in various parts of the oil tankers and the truck.

The DRI sources further informed that the DRI had seized over 208 kg of contraband gold, valued at Rs 102.6 crore, in the Northeastern States during the 2021-2022 fiscal year. All the seized gold had been smuggled either through the Myanmar-India route or the Bangladesh-India route, the sources said.

Overall, the DRI seized 833 kg of contraband gold across the country in FY 2021-2022, which was valued at over Rs 405 crore.

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