Guwahati: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) confiscated 15.93 kg of foreign-origin gold worth Rs 8.38 crore from five persons of an organised gold smuggling syndicate who were trying to smuggle the precious metal via the Indo-Myanmar border in Guwahati and Dimapur on May 12, 2022.
All five persons were arrested and three vehicles were seized in the operation code-named “Gold on the Highway”, and further investigations were in progress.
Acting on the basis of specific intelligence, officers of DRI mounted discreet surveillance on two oil tankers and a truck travelling separately from Mao, Manipur to Guwahati, Assam. In the early morning hours of May 12, 2022, these vehicles were intercepted simultaneously at different points along the National Highway between Dimapur and Guwahati. After intensive examination of the intercepted vehicles, 96 pieces of gold biscuits weighing 15.93 kg were recovered that had been carefully concealed in different parts of the three vehicles.
In the fiscal year 2021-22, DRI has seized 833 kg of gold valued at Rs. 405 crore during its operations across the country. Of this, in the North-Eastern states, DRI has seized more than 208 kg of the precious metal valued at Rs. 102.6 crore, smuggled through the highly sensitive Indo-Myanmar and Indo-Bangladesh border.
– global bihari bureau
