318 kg gold worth ₹475 crore moved through courier network: DRI busts pan-India syndicate

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a pan-India gold smuggling network that transported around 318 kg of smuggled gold worth ₹475 crore through courier channels in the past nine months, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

The agency seized 6.61 kg of foreign-origin smuggled gold worth around ₹10.36 crore and arrested 11 people, including one of the masterminds, as part of the operation.

Acting on intelligence about the smuggling of foreign-origin gold through the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal and Assam, the agency launched a coordinated operation across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Guwahati on September 23 and 24.

The intelligence indicated that the gold was being moved through courier consignments to different parts of the country.

During the operation, DRI intercepted live courier consignments booked from Guwahati and Kolkata for delivery in Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad.

Seven recipients were apprehended. Searches at the premises of consignors and shippers in Kolkata led to the arrest of three more people. One of the masterminds coordinating the dispatch and delivery of the gold was later arrested in Mumbai.

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Gold split into small consignments

The investigation found that the syndicate was splitting smuggled gold into several small courier consignments before sending them from Guwahati and Kolkata to recipients in Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad.

The consignors, shippers, and recipients were found to be paper entities or persons without legitimate gold transactions, the Finance Ministry said. This indicated that the courier network was being deliberately used to conceal and distribute the smuggled gold in the domestic market.

The DRI recovered 6.61 kg of foreign-origin gold in bar form, valued at approximately ₹10.36 crore, from the intercepted consignments.

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₹475 crore gold moved in nine months

A preliminary examination of documentary evidence showed the scale of the network's operations.

In just nine months of the current calendar year, around 318 kg of smuggled gold worth approximately ₹475 crore had already been transported and delivered through the same courier-based network, the Finance Ministry said.