DRI arrests five smugglers with gold bars worth Rs 4.64 crore

 

 

 

 

In its continuous pursuit of cracking down hard on smugglers and narcotics syndicate, a combined team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh hauled in a major shipment of foreign origin gold bars worth Rs 4.63 crore. The DRI sleuths also arrested five persons, which eventually led to the busting of a major gold smuggling syndicate being run from Durg district of Chhattisgarh. In all, the gold bars seized by the DRI enforcers weigh around 9.3 kilogram. Earlier this month, officers of DRI Indore Zonal Unit had seized approximately 18 kgs of Foreign Gold and 4,545 kgs of Silver worth approximately 40 crore and 5 persons had been arrested in anti-smuggling operations in MP-CG. Highly-placed sources averred to ‘The Hitavada’ that the 3-day long inter-state operation was undertaken by DRI officers from Bhopal, Indore and Raipur units. “Precise intelligence was received by DRI Indore Zonal Unit that three persons would be carrying huge quantity of smuggled gold and would be coming to some specific location in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh on May 24.

 

The smugglers carrying the smuggled valuable were travelling by a Maruti Swift Car (MP-15 CA-9382),” the sources said. Based on the intelligence, according to the sources, surveillance was mounted for the suspected vehicle and a combined team of DRI sleuths roped in from Bhopal and Indore units were set in place to intercept the car at a designated spot on highway, which connects before Sagar. “On thorough search and rummaging foreign origin gold bars totally weighing 7.8 kgs were recovered from a specially built cavity concealed at Car. All the three occupants of the car confessed their crime and subsequently the main financier and buyer was also identified and apprehended from Sagar. The smuggled gold and vehicle use for concealment and transport were seized. All four persons were arrested and then produced before Economic Offences Court, Sagar, which remanded them to judicial custody,” the sources maintained.

 

The sources also affirmed that the main financier and buyer during the preliminary grilling revealed that one of the members of their syndicate (a jeweller) is in Durg district of Chhattisgarh, who was involved in handling this smuggled gold. “Immediately a follow up operation was conducted by DRI officers of Raipur Regional Unit and residential premise of a well-known jeweller in Durg, identified as Prakash Sankhla, was searched. During the search ops, 1.5 Kilogram of gold along with Rs 64.85 lakh cash was seized from the premises,” the sources, adding further that, the Durg-based jeweller also confessed his crime following which he too was arrested.

 

Further investigation is on. It is pertinent here to recall that the DRI officers had to face heavy resistance during the search operations at the residence of jeweller Prakash Sankhla, situated at posh Mahavir Nagar locality of Durg district. So much so that the family members of the jeweller’s along with few others including local jewellers ganged up against DRI personnel during which they used forced to obstruct on-duty public servant from discharging their duties by hurling abuses and manhandling them. Eventually, DRI personnel had to get the statement of arrested jeweller inside the Durg Kotwali police station, where they somehow managed to reach after evading the angry mob.