4 held in Siliguri with gold biscuits worth Rs 17cr

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Siliguri: The regional unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) here has arrested four persons with 202 gold biscuits, together weighing over 33kg and estimated to be worth more than Rs 17 crore.

The accused — identified as Nishan Kumar (21), Deepak Kumar (25), Raju Ram (35) and Sunil Kumar (32), all residents of Rajasthan — were produced in a local court on Saturday and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Sources in DRI said the Siliguri unit acted on a tip-off and intercepted a truck at Goaltuli More along Ghoshpukur-Fulbari road on Friday night. The stash of gold biscuits, weighing precisely 33.53kg, was found in the men’s luggage.
The four were arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act. They said the gold had been smuggled in through Myanmar-Manipur border and they were carrying the consignment to Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. DRI officials said the haul was worth Rs 17.51 crore.
In the financial year 2019-20, the DRI had seized around 300kg gold from Bengal and Sikkim, together valued at more than Rs 115 crore. In the current fiscal, the seizure is around 98kg, valued at around Rs 52 crore, and this despite movement restrictions amid the pandemic.
The DRI remains committed to combating all types of cross-border crime involving gold, narcotics, wild life articles, fake Indian currency notes and counterfeit goods.

 

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