NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in a major haul has seized (DRI) around 7000 kilograms of gold worth more than Rs 2000 crore, busting one of the biggest gold smuggling rackets in Delhi. The DRI said, the gold smuggling racket has been active for over more than two and half years. DRI in an official statement said, this is probably the single biggest case of detection of gold smuggling by any agency in India. Sources said, the racket came to light when the Delhi Zonal Unit (DZU) of DRI seized 10 kilograms of gold at the domestic cargo terminal of IGI airport, Delhi on September 2. The seized gold bars, of 24 carat purity, were admittedly smuggled into India through the Indo-Myanmar land border and were brought to Delhi from Guwahati by a domestic flight. The market value of the total seized goods is around Rs. 3.1 crore. The Involvement of employees of airlines and others involved is being investigated by DRI, it said. The smuggling racket had adopted an ingenious modus operandi wherein the smuggled goods were brought to Delhi from Guwahati on no less than 617 occasions by declaring it as valuable cargo in domestic flights operated by a particular airline, to avoid being detected by Customs. So far, smugglers had been known to use train and bus routes to smuggle gold. Two of the accused, a Guwahati-based businessman and his Delhi-based aide. The businessman had been arrested in other cases of gold smuggling, including ones where 37 kg and 12 kg of gold were seized, but had been released on bail. Value of gold seizures by DRI in the current financial year up to 18th September, 2016 is about Rs 91 crore, say sources. ]]>
