Mumbai: Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Sunday arrested four alleged gold smugglers in two different cases and seized 10 kg of gold worth Rs 6.2 crore from their possession at the Mumbai in the Maharashtra capital, officials said. An official said that in the first case, an Indian national who landed at the Mumbai airport from Dubai was stopped at the airport.
Baggage of the said passengers was checked and 56 women's purses were seized during the search, an official said. An official said that the accused passenger had concealed 24 carat gold and silver colored metal wires weighing 2005 grams in the purses. The accused passenger was arrested and the gold and silver wires worth around 1.24 crore was seized from him.
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In the second case, two passengers landing at the airport from Sharjah in Air India Express Flight No. IX 252 were intercepted at the airport following specific inputs about gold smuggling. When the said passengers were checked, eight gold bars of 24 carats were found hidden in their clothes around their waists, an official said.
During the investigation, gold weighing 8 kg worth Rs 4.94 crore was seized from the accused passengers. An official in the DRI said that in both the cases, a unique modus operandi was exposed by the DRI, which reflects the formidable challenge that DRI officials investigating various forms of gold smuggling syndicates in the country.
Further investigation in both the cases is underway. Pertinently, 18 Sudanese women along with an Indian woman were arrested with over 16 kg of gold in paste form worth Rs 10.16 crore at the Mumbai airport on Apr 27 this year.
