Mumbai: The officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have busted a syndicate allegedly engaged in the smuggling of gold through consignments imported at the Air Cargo Complex in Mumbai. The agency suspect that the syndicate has smuggled more than 200 kilograms of gold in the past.
The officers of DRI Mumbai have intercepted an import consignment of a private company that had arrived at Air Cargo Complex, Mumbai from Bangkok on Wednesday.
As per the description, the goods said to contain 4 DJ Lights. During further examination of the consignment gold were discovered concealed in a cavity at the bottom of each DJ light. The total weight of the concealed gold was 11,988.94 grams, with an estimated value of Rs 9.69 crore. Two persons have been arrested by the DRI in the said case on Friday.
Those arrested have been identified as Nalasopara resident B.R. Shetty (50) and Andheri resident K.P. Rai (53).
A search operation was subsequently carried out at the godown of the private company located at Santa Cruz belonging to Shetty. Upon inquiry with Shetty regarding the DJ lights he agreed that the said DJ lights were being used as a means of concealing gold that was being smuggled into the country, agency sources said.
“Accordingly, statement of Shetty was recorded wherein the has admitted that the said gold was smuggled Into India by concealment in the import consignment of DJ Lights. The goods were cleared from the Air Cargo Complex (ACC), transported discreetly, and stored at the godown before the gold was extracted by unidentified individuals,” said a DRI source.
The agency officials also recorded statement of Rai wherein he has admitted that he was aware about Shetty’s involvement in illicit activities. “Rai used to file the customs duty amounts online for the cargo consignments booked by Shetty and he also used to see the remittances related work. Rai used to receive the documents related to import on his WhatsApp, and make all the import related payments through the banking channels from the bank account of Shetty. Further, Rai had facilitated the smuggling activity by making fabricated document for the import of DJ lights from Thailand,” the DRI source said.
“In the ongoing investigation, more pieces of evidence are being gathered and the same needs to be investigated. Other key members of the syndicate are yet to be apprehended and all out efforts are being made in this regard. Further, sources for the purchase of the gold, distribution of the smuggled gold, Transfer of money through illegal hawala channels etc. are yet to be investigated. The involvement of other key members and sources for procurement needs to be investigated. Evidences are being gathered and a detailed analysis of the same is under process,” said the official.
