DRI seizes gold bars worth nearly Rs 8 cr smuggled into India from Myanmar, arrests six

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized gold bars worth nearly Rs eight crore which was smuggled into India from Myanmar, and arrested six people for allegedly being a part of the smuggling racket, according to an official statement issue Tuesday.

The gold was smuggled into India from Myanmar through the porous Indo-Myanmar border at Moreh in Manipur.

Acting on specific inputs, DRI officials Monday seized 24.15 kg gold bars valued at Rs 7.99 crore from the possession of six people who were travelling by bus from Manipur to Siliguri via Coochbehar, the statement said.

The six people who have been arrested are residents of Manipur and were engaged in carrying smuggled foreign-origin gold for quite some time now, the DRI said in the statement.

In the last financial year, the DRI had seized over 464 kg of gold within the geographical precincts of West Bengal and Sikkim, smuggled from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and even China,valued at Rs 145.69 crore in 46 cases.