Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials have arrested 18 Sudanese national women and an Indian associate of theirs for allegedly smuggling gold worth over Rs 10 crore, agency sources said on Tuesday.
"Based on specific intelligence that gold in paste form is being smuggled into India by a syndicate of passengers who are traveling from UAE to Mumbai on Monday, surveillance was mounted by a team of DRI officers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai," said a DRI source."
Gold in paste form, cut pieces and jewellery recovered
The suspected passengers in three flights were identified and intercepted by the team of DRI officers at the airport. A thorough examination of the passengers led to recovery of a total of 16.36 kg of gold in paste form, gold- cut pieces and jewellery. The value of the gold is about ₹ 10.16 crores," the official said.
He added, "Most of the recovered gold was found concealed on the body of the suspect passengers making it extremely difficult to detect. Further, during follow up search at related premises 1.42 kg gold valued approximately at around Rs. 85 lakhs along with foreign currency worth Rs. 16 lakhs and Indian currency of Rs. 88 lakhs has also been recovered."Total 18 female Sudanese nationals carrying the smuggled gold and one Indian national who is the key person coordinating the movement of passengers have been arrested in this case.
Further investigation in the instant case is under progress to unravel the complete chain of persons involved in the syndicate responsible for the illegal inflow of gold into the country, agency officials said.
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