Overview
- The Mumbai unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence launched coordinated multi‑city actions that traced the operation to routes through West Bengal and Assam and led to multiple arrests.
- The DRI says the probe seized 6.61 kg of gold bars from courier consignments and an additional 9.4 kg of powdered gold at Mumbai airport from three passengers, with those individuals arrested.
- Agency records and preliminary document checks indicate roughly 318 kg of foreign‑origin gold valued at about Rs 475 crore was moved through courier channels over the past nine months.
- Investigators say smugglers used fragmentation of consignments and an unusual concealment method of pulverising gold and mixing it with food products such as milk powder and oats to defeat checks.
- The DRI is continuing its probe to map the wider syndicate, identify shippers and handlers across cities and trace how the metal entered domestic markets for sale without customs documentation.