DRI seizes Rs 1.68 cr worth gold smuggled into India from Myanmar

The DRI has seized gold worth Rs 1.68 crore, which was smuggled into India from Myanmar, and arrested three persons here.

The trio was held at Howrah Railway Station after they deboarded a train on Wednesday, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said in a press release issued today.

DRI officials recovered 34 gold bars of foreign origin cumulatively weighing 5.6 kg and valued at Rs 1.68 crore from the accused, it said.

Gold smuggled from Myanmar through Moreh in Manipur was being carried by the three on the Saraighat Express from Guwahati to Howrah.

They disembarked at a station before Howrah and took a local train. Gold was concealed in their shoes. Two among the three were found to be habitual offenders and had earlier been booked in a case at Siliguri by DRI, the press release said.

The recovered gold bars have been seized and and all the three apprehended persons arrested, it said.

They were produced before a local court which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.

There has been significant seizures of gold bars of foreign origin smuggled from Myanmar through the Indo-Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh and also from the Zokhawthar border with Myanmar in Mizoram.

In the financial year 2017-18, in the region spread over West Bengal and north eastern states, the DRI had seized more than 300 kgs of gold valued at about Rs 93 crore in the market, smuggled from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and even Bhutan.