In one of the biggest seizures, the DRI has seized 52 kgs of gold, valued at about Rs 15 crore, smuggled into the country from Dubai using the sea route - a sought-after modus operandi followed by smugglers in the 1970s.
It is the second case in recent times in which gold smuggled via the sea-route has been seized by officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
The seizure of 52 kgs of gold was made by Gandhidham unit of the DRI from a container at Mundra port in Gujarat.
"Gold was concealed in the metallic frame used as packing material for the poultry egg incubator, which was shipped from Dubai," a press release issued today by the DRI said.
This catch is a sequel to the seizure of 44 kgs of gold made by the Delhi zonal unit of DRI on May 13, 2017, when it had intercepted a truck coming from Mundra port in Chander Vihar area of the national capital, concealed in the same fashion.
Delhi DRI has already arrested Harnek Singh, the kingpin in this smuggling syndicate, who is currently in judicial custody, it said. He allegedly operates with his brother-in-law in Dubai and uses the hawala network to transfer money, bypassing banking channels and leaving no paper trail.
The total value of gold seized so far from this syndicate is about Rs 28 crore.
"This syndicate is suspected to have smuggled around 2,000 kgs of foreign-marked gold bars worth Rs 600 crore from Dubai through the sea route adopting a similar modus operandi," the release said.
Back in the seventies and eighties, gold used to be smuggled through the sea route using country boats (Arab Dhows) or as containerised cargo.
(With PTI inputs)
