15 kg gold worth Rs5 crore seized in Siliguri, two arrested

EOI, SILIGURI,22 Oct 2016: Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have arrested two persons in Siliguri with 15 gold bars weighing 15 kg worth Rs5 crore and also seized Rs20 lakh in Indian and Nepalese currency from them. One of the arrested is Kamal Kumar Verma, a resident of ISKCON Mandir Road in Siliguri who owns a jewellery shop in Seth Srilal Market. Verma reportedly revealed that a man named Kunga Tenzing Bhutia of Dowhill, Kurseong had smuggled the gold bars to Siliguri.

Today, the two were produced before additional chief judicial magistrate Shubra Bhowmik (Special Court of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate) in Siliguri who sent them to jail custody till November 5.

An intelligence report has said the consignment was smuggled from China via Nepal to be sold during the upcoming Diwali festivities, said the DRI.

A DRI team apprehended Verma on Friday evening near the Payal Cinema Hall on Sevoke Road when he was heading home on his scooty. The DRI had received specific information about the smuggled consignment and they found five gold bars hidden in the tool box of Verma's bike. The jeweller told the DRI that he bought the bars from Bhutia, who had a flat on Sevoke Road. When the DRI raided Bhutia's flat, 10 more gold bars were found along with Indian and Nepalese currency.

Ratan Banik, the government appointed pleader representing the DRI, said the case is under investigation to ascertain if more people are involved. He said the gold bars were marked 'Made in Switzerland' and 'Made in USA'. Of the Rs20 lakh in currency notes seized from Bhutia's flat, Rs11,000 was in Nepalese currency, he added.