PTI
Ahmedabad
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted an organised gold smuggling network operating through Ahmedabad and Surat airports, seizing 13 kg of foreign-origin gold worth Rs 19.41 crore, an official said on Monday.
Officers arrested three persons under the Customs Act following a 42-hour operation starting October 16 that uncovered a complete supply chain running from Dubai financiers to an illegal gold-melting unit in Vadodara and a jewellery store in Ahmedabad, an official release stated.
According to preliminary investigation, foreign-origin gold was smuggled into India through Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad and Surat International Airport using passengers, who concealed gold wires coated with rhodium in the inner linings of trolley bags and in paste form hidden within inner shells of bags.
Upon landing, passengers handed the consignments over to handlers outside the airport. The gold was then routed through intermediaries to an illegal melting facility in Vadodara, where it was processed before being supplied to a jewellery shop in Ahmedabad for cash, the release said.
During the operation, DRI officers seized around 890 gm of gold, recovered evidence relating to 6.41 kg of illegally melted gold, and further searches at the jewellery outlet led to the seizure of undocumented foreign-origin gold bars and records of transactions involving around 5.8 kg of smuggled precious metal.
This consignment was allegedly routed through a separate handler linked to the syndicate’s main financier based in Dubai, the release said. The Dubai-based financier and other key persons were identified during the investigation, the agency said, without disclosing their identities.
