Three held for smuggling 5 kg gold worth Rs 2.44 Crores in Indore

Three persons were on Monday arrested for smuggling 5 kg gold worth Rs 2.44 crores, informed the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Indore.

According to a statement issued by DRI, Indore, Specific intelligence was received by them that three persons would be carrying a huge quantity of smuggled gold from Mumbai to Bhopal and would be traveling via Indore on July 4, 2021, in a Maruti Ertiga.

Accordingly, surveillance was mounted for the suspected vehicle and after identification, it was secretly followed by DRI officers for a long distance in the middle of the night of 3rd and 4th July, it said.

It further stated that the suspected vehicle was finally intercepted near Mangliya on the Indore Bhopal bypass highway, by officers of DRI Indore Zonal Unit and Bhopal Regional Unit.

On thorough search and rummaging, eight gold bars weighing 5 kgs in total were recovered from a specially built secret cavity in the Car. All three occupants of the vehicle confessed their crime of bringing smuggled gold from Mumbai, said the DRI, Indore.

They also revealed that they had carried and paid Rs 2.2 crores in cash to the supplier in Mumbai at the time of taking delivery of this smuggled gold in Mumbai. Follow-up operations in Bhopal and Mumbai are underway to nab the suppliers of the smuggled Gold, it said.

DRI further informed that the smuggled Gold and vehicle use for concealment and transport, were seized under Customs Act, 1962 and all three persons have been arrested under the provisions of Customs Act 1962.

Further investigation is underway, it said.

In 2021, DRI officers of M.P.Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh seized 36.98 kgs of smuggled gold worth Rs 17.94 Crores, under Customs Act and arrested 14 persons, apart from others commodity seizures under Customs and NDPS Acts, it added.

( With inputs from ANI )