43 kg gold worth Rs 21 crore seized in Imphal, two persons arrested

Acting on specific information, DRI Imphal unit intercepted one vehicle carrying two occupants in the early hours of Wednesday after mounting prolonged surveillance near the city.

New Delhi: In a major operation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against an organised smuggling syndicate, 43.12 kg of smuggled gold valued at Rs 20.95 crores was seized on Wednesday (June 26) in Imphal, Manipur.

Two persons were arrested and one vehicle was seized in the operation that was carried out by the DRI Guwahati zonal unit.

Acting on specific information, DRI Imphal unit intercepted one vehicle carrying two occupants in the early hours of Wednesday after mounting a prolonged surveillance near the city.

Thorough rummaging of the intercepted vehicle which carried on for over 18 hours resulted in the recovery of 260 pieces of gold biscuits weighing 43.12 kg valued at Rs 20.95 crore, said the DRI in a statement.

“The foreign origin gold biscuits were carefully concealed in three different and specially built secret cavities particularly meant to smuggle such high-value goods. The detection of these secret cavities skillfully embedded in the vehicle’s interiors indicates their usage for trafficking high-value contraband in the past as well,” the official statement said.

In the last three months, the Guwahati zonal unit of DRI has seized 66.97 kg gold valued at Rs 32.94 crore originating from the highly sensitive Manipur sector of the Indo-Myanmar border, of which 55.02 kg valued at around Rs 27 crore was seized in the month of June alone.