Rs 8cr gold seized in Siliguri, six held

- Some of the seized gold biscuits and bars in Siliguri. Picture by Passang Yolmo

TT, 15 May 2019, Siliguri: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized over 24kg gold allegedly smuggled out of Myanmar and arrested six Manipur residents from here on Monday evening.

DRI sources said the contraband cost around Rs 8 crore and was supposed to be sold in Siliguri or Calcutta.

"Preliminary investigation suggests the gold was smuggled into India from Maynamar through Moreh in Manipur. The six suspected carriers reached Cooch Behar from Manipur and travelled in pairs on three different buses to reach Siliguri. They had planned to sell the gold in Siliguri or Calcutta. Each of them was carrying the bars," said a source.

Acting on a tip-off, the DRI's Siliguri unit intercepted all the six from the three buses here on Monday evening. The DRI conducted a thorough search and found 20 gold bars weighing 1kg each and 25 gold biscuits of 166 gram.

In total, the gold weighed 24.150kg and cost around Rs 7,98,76,000.

The arrested six are Mohammad Numan, Mohammad Lukuman, Hafiz Misbahuddin, Mohammad Zamil Ahmed, Mohammad Dawood Akhtar and MM Washim Khan.

"The seized gold is of foreign origin. Most of the gold bars are from Switzerland, Australia and China," said advocate T. Saha who represents the DRI.

All the six were produced in a court here on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

According to sources, the DRI seized over 464kg of gold -- smuggled from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China -- in Bengal and Sikkim in the 2018-19 fiscal. "In total, the valuation of the seized gold was Rs 145.69 crore. As many as 46 cases have been registered in this regard," the DRI source said..