Smuggling racket busted in Mumbai: Over 32 kg gold worth 10.5 crores recovered, 7 arrested
DRI officials found gold bars smuggled through Indo-Myanmar border & unmarked melted gold bars of 999 purity while searching the office of Concor Air Ltd, which handles the domestic cargo at Mumbai airport
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence busted a major gold smuggling racket in the city, resulting in the arrest of seven people and the recovery of 32.28 kg precious metal worth over Rs 10.5 crore.
According to officials, 12 consignments had earlier arrived on Concor Air Ltd, which handles the domestic cargo terminal at Mumbai airport. Acting on a specific tip-off, searches were carried out at the Concor Air’s facility in Mumbai on Friday.
The racket came to light after suspicious consignments were claimed to be of jewellery. However, an investigation revealed that they contained foreign-marked gold bars.
“The consignments were found to be containing foreign-marked gold bars, including gold bars smuggled through Indo-Myanmar border and unmarked melted gold bars of 999 purity,” the official said.
The seized yellow metal was valued at Rs 10.56 crore, he said, adding that seven people were arrested in connection with the racket.
The probe revealed that the gold bars were apparently smuggled into the country through various ports and then brought to Mumbai via domestic airlines to avoid stringent checking at the city’s two ports.
The smuggled gold was brought here from various domestic airports, including Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Chennai, and Kolkata, among others.
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