Sleuths guised as passengers catch gold smugglers from train at Indo-Bangla border

Guised as passengers, the officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) boarded a train and caught two smugglers with over 11 kg gold at the Indo-Bangla border, according to an official statement issued Wednesday.

The interception was made at the Majhdia railway station in Nadia district near the border on Monday, it said.

Acting on input about a syndicate involved in gold smuggling, the DRI officials laid out an elaborate plan and in a skilfully-executed operation boarded the train in the guise of ordinary people, scanned the passengers and successfully identified two persons as carriers of the contraband.

The officers then intercepted the duo as they were deboarding the Gede-Ranaghat local train at Majhdia, the statement said.

Search of the persons resulted in recovery and seizure of 100 biscuits of foreign-origin gold of 116.64 g each, totally weighing 11.66 kg valued at Rs 3.77 crore concealed in specially-tailored waist belts, it said.

The duo has been arrested and produced before the judicial magistrate, who has remanded them to judicial custody, the statement said.

With this seizure, in the current financial year in the region spread over West Bengal and the north-eastern states, the DRI has seized about 395 kg of gold and gold jewellery valued close to Rs 123 crore.

These seized gold are believed to be smuggled from India's land borders with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China, it said.