DRI busts syndicate, seizes Bangladesh-smuggled gold, other metals worth nearly Rs 5 crore

The DRI has busted a smuggling syndicate here and seized gold, smuggled from Bangladesh, among other precious metals worth nearly Rs five crore, a statement issued on Wednesday said.

It said specific intelligence was gathered that substantial quantity of foreign origin gold smuggled into India from Bangladesh was kept at various locations in the Burrabazar area of Kolkata.

In a coordinated search conducted at these premises, 80 gold biscuits weighing 9.33 kg valued at Rs 3.63 crore, 0.58 kg gold coins valued at Rs 21.89 lakh, 49.93 kg silver granules and 135.5 kg of silver coins of assorted sizes and weight cumulatively valued at Rs 83.8 lakh, and Rs 2.77 lakh cash were seized, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) statement said.

The value of the total seizure is Rs 4.71 crore, it said.

A man, who was the custodian of the keys to the premises and was also present during the searches, could not produce any documents for possession of the goods and also admitted that they were smuggled from Bangladesh, the probe agency said.

He was arrested under the provisions of the Customs Act.

The agency said that the accused, as a part of well orchestrated fraud, would even try to deface the foreign origin markings.

Investigations reveal that the accused was also closely involved as a supplier in connection with a seizure of 42.17 kg of gold worth Rs 16.42 crore effected by the DRI on December 8 and 9, the agency said.

This seizure was effected in a countrywide operation from three places -- Kolkata (27.2 kg), Raipur (8 kg) and Mumbai (about 7 kgs) -- in which ten people were arrested.

Interrogation of the arrested people revealed that the gold was also supplied by the accused in this case.

In the current financial year so far, more than 229 kg of gold has been seized by DRI in the eastern region.