Overview
- The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence carried out a coordinated multi-city operation on September 23–24 that resulted in 11 arrests and the recovery of 6.61 kg of foreign-origin gold bars from intercepted courier consignments.
- A related search at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport led to the arrest of three passengers and the seizure of 9.4 kg of gold powder concealed inside food products.
- Officials say the syndicate moved gold across the Indo-Bangladesh land border through West Bengal and Assam, then split shipments into many small courier parcels booked from Guwahati and Kolkata for delivery to Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
- Preliminary documentary evidence recovered by investigators suggests about 318 kg of smuggled gold may have been routed through the same courier network over the past nine months, a gap that investigators say indicates much of the metal was already sold or laundered into the domestic market.
- Authorities have shifted the probe to follow the money and supply chain by targeting paper shippers and recipients, local refiners and hawala operators as they work to identify buyers, trace proceeds and dismantle the wider distribution network.