Kolkata: Man arrested for smuggling gold worth Rs 3 crores

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Friday arrested a 27-year-old man at Kolkata airport for allegedly trying to smuggle gold worth Rs. 3 crores from Myanmar.

The accused has been identified as Zonunsanga, from Mizoram who was travelling by Jet Airways flight no-9W-624 from Aizawl.

Officials said, "The flight which was scheduled to land at Kolkata at 1:25pm arrived early around 1:05pm. As the passengers began to disembark from the aerobridge into the terminal building, a team of DRI officers, with the help of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel on duty, cordoned off the area and commenced security checks".

"This operation led to the seizure of 9.96 kgs gold (six gold bars each weighing 1.66 kg) having a market value of approximately Rs 3 crore. The gold biscuits were found in his backpack."

DRI team further said, "The person arrested in this case was found to be well educated. He had studied at Delhi University. He confessed to falling for the lure of easy money being offered to carriers of such smuggled gold by organised smuggling syndicates".

A case has been registered and further investigation is on.