SILIGURI: In a major crackdown on cross-border gold smuggling, the Siliguri unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 55 kgs of gold worth Rs.18.2 crores from West Bengal’s Siliguri.
This seizure is being termed as one of the biggest in the last two years.
Acting on a tip-off, officials of DRI raided a vehicle at Siliguri that was traveling from Bhutan.
On further inspection, officials found 55 bars of gold weighing 1kg each concealed in the cavity under the driver's seat.
“The gold was seized at the Jaigaon-Phuentsholing border (which is the most prominent Indo- Bhutan border) from the possession of two persons travelling by a Hyundai Verna vehicle near Vishal Megamart in Siliguri on Friday evening. The smuggled gold bars were concealed in a specially prepared cavity under the driver’s seat of the intercepted Hyundai Verna car. The gold bars, each of which weighs one kilogram, have distinct foreign origin markings like ‘1 Kilo Au 99.99’, ‘CHHGOLD 1 Kilo SGE Au 99.99’, ‘The Perth Mint’, ‘Australia, 1 Kilo 9999’ etc. The gold bars were supposed to be delivered by the accused persons to a recipient at Siliguri for its onward transportation,” said a senior official of DRI.
Two persons hailing from Maharashtra’s Sangli district - Ganesh Bhagawan Kute and Navnath Kallape Kute were arrested from the spot.
According to the DRI officials, the seized gold was first smuggled to Bhutan from countries like China, Australia and Switzerland and then smuggled into India through the land.
“Interrogation of the intercepted persons revealed that they had been to Jaigaon, a bordering town adjacent to Bhutan, in the early hours of 26th October (Friday) and crossed over the border and entered Phuentsholing in Bhutan. They received the cache of gold from one Bhutanese person at Phuentsholing which was then concealed by them in the secret cavity of the car,” added the official.
With this seizure, in the current financial year, in the region spread over West Bengal and the North-Eastern states, the DRI has seized over 353 kgs. of gold and gold jewellery valued at close to Rs.109 crores in the market, smuggled from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal and even China.
