DRI seizes 16 kgs of gold smuggled from Sri Lanka

Sixteen kilos of gold worth nearly Rs 5 crore, smuggled into the country from Sri Lanka through the sea route, has been seized in Tamil Nadu by DRI officials.
The smuggled gold had landed at Mandapam coast under Ramanathapuram district of the state for being delivered at Chennai.
The gold was recovered on Sunday from a cargo van, which was intercepted by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on the Devipattinam-Devakottai road, about 30 kms from the coast, an official release issued today said.
The yellow metal, valued at about Rs 4.74 crore, was hidden in a space meant for fixing speakers on both the doors of the van, it said, adding that a person has been arrested in the case.

This is not the first time such a seizure has been made.
Earlier on December 31, 2016, DRI had made an identical seizure of 8.7 kgs of gold, valued at Rs 2.44 crore, smuggled from Sri Lanka through the same sea route along the Rameshwaram-Mandapam coastal belt.

DRI has made a number of high-value smuggled gold seizures so far this year.
"Trends of seizures made by DRI indicate that large quantity of gold is being smuggled into India from Myanmar. These consignments are entering illicitly through India's land border with Myanmar in the northeastern states.
"Subsequently, these smuggled consignments are being brought into Kolkata from where they are distributed to various parts of the country including other metropolitan cities," the release said.

Since January 1, 2017, DRI has seized about 155 kgs of smuggled gold valued at about Rs 50 crore in 31 operations conducted across the country.
In about 105 operations conducted in financial year 2016-17 to check gold smuggling, DRI arrested about 188 suspects, belonging to various gold smuggling syndicates.
"Outright smuggling of gold fuels the unaccounted black economy as hoarders prefer parking their unaccounted wealth in the form of gold.
"Demonetisation of high denomination currency on November 9, 2016 had checked the smuggling of gold for a few months as the domestic and cross-border unaccounted cash flow through informal (hawala) networks had been choked," it said.

The seizures made by DRI indicate towards attempts being made by organised criminal networks for resumption of large scale outright gold smuggling into India, which had subsided in the initial months post-demonetisation, the release said.
"Gold smugglers are now attempting to regroup and restart the smuggling of gold into India. DRI is maintaining a close vigil on India's sensitive sea, land and air routes to check resurfacing of gold smuggling," it said.