DRI foils attempts of gold smuggling, seizes 11 kg gold worth more than Rs 5.88 crore in Lucknow & Mumbai

Last week, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) effectively prevented attempts at organized gold smuggling by air route by carrying out two separate seizures in Lucknow and Mumbai, both of which had a same method of gold hiding.

On 06.05.2022, 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 equipment” in the import documentation, however upon closer inspection, 5.8 kilogramme 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 apprehended quickly. The Court has placed the importer under judicial detention.

This seizure in Mumbai comes just one day after DRI officers in Lucknow made another seizure on May 5, 2012. DRI seized an import shipment including “electrical threading machine” at Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport’s Air Cargo Complex, and gold discs were discovered hidden in the machines in a similar method. In the case, 5.2 kilogramme of gold worth Rs. 2.78 crore was confiscated.

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 delivery 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.

These discoveries have aided in the discovery of new methods for smuggling gold from other countries into India via air cargo and courier. DRI’s capacity to detect and battle unique and complex smuggling tactics is bolstered by such discoveries. DRI agents seized 833 kilogrammes of smuggled gold worth Rs. 405 crore between 2021 and 2022.