New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) effectively prevented attempts of organised gold smuggling via air route by carrying out two separate seizures in Lucknow and Mumbai last week, both of which had the same method of gold concealment.
According to a press statement issued by Ministry of Finance, on May 6, personnel of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) investigated a shipment that had arrived from Dubai at the Air Cargo Complex, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, after developing detailed intelligence.
The item was listed as "sectional & drum type drain cleaning machines" in the import documents, however upon closer inspection, 5.8 kilogram gold worth Rs. 3.10 crore in disc form was discovered hidden inside two motor rotors of the machine brought in the cargo.
The importer was found in south Mumbai and was nabbed quickly. The Court has placed the importer under judicial detention.
"This seizure in Mumbai is on the heels of another seizure made by DRI Officers in Lucknow a day earlier on 05.05.2022. In that case too, DRI intercepted an import cargo said to contain “electrical threading machine” at Air Cargo Complex of Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, and gold discs were found concealed in the machines in very similar fashion. Total 5.2 kg gold, valued at Rs. 2.78 crore, was seized in that case," reads the statement.
DRI has made major gold seizures from cargo and courier shipments in the recent year. DRI recovered 16.79 kilogramme gold worth Rs. 8 crore from a courier consignment in July 2021, followed by 80.13 kg smuggled gold worth Rs. 39.31 crore from a cargo consignment in November 2021, both in New Delhi.
In another case, DRI discovered identical methods of concealing illegal gold in a cargo that landed at Mumbai's International Courier Terminal in August 2021.
DRI has discovered 5.25 kilogramme of hidden gold worth Rs. 2.67 crore in the inbound shipment.