DRI arrests 2 with contraband gold worth Rs 2.53 crore

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 4 March 2020 | Darjeeling: Based on specific intelligence, two persons were intercepted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Tuesday. Contraband gold worth about Rs 2.53 crore was seized from them.

The two were arrested from two different buses near Bidhan Nagar in the plains of Darjeeling. The duo had boarded the buses from the Indo-Bangladesh border. 50 pieces of foreign marked gold biscuits cumulatively weighing 5.83 kg were recovered from the two. Both the persons were subsequently arrested.

Information of a huge quantity of foreign origin gold, smuggled into India from Bangladesh through the border in the district of Cooch Behar to be smuggled out to Uttar Dinajpur district, had been received by the DRI. The first person, Hasanur Jaman, was intercepted at around 10:40 am from a Berhampur bound bus coming from the Siliguri side. The second person, Latif Rahaman, was intercepted at around 11:30 am from another bus travelling from Siliguri to Malda, coming from Siliguri. Both are around 37-years-old and are residents of Dinhata in Cooch Behar.

Both Jaman and Rahaman confessed that they were carrying the smuggled gold in cloth belts. On searching the two apprehended persons, a total of 50 pieces of gold biscuits of various countries were recovered. The arrested persons were produced at the ACJM Court, Siliguri, on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody. In the current financial year, about 275 kg of gold has been seized by DRI in Bengal and Sikkim.