Twenty five gold biscuits worth around Rs 1.20 crores were seized from four alleged smugglers in Manipur, customs officials said.
The seizure of the gold bars weighing around 4150 grams was made by officers of Customs Preventive Force Pallel, led by its Superintendent based on a reliable input while checking a Maruti van (MN04A-5143) at Pallel, a town located about 50 km south of Imphal along the busy Imphal-Moreh sector of the National Highway 102, on Friday, they said.
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Assistant Commissioner Rajkumar Darendrajit Singh of Customs (Preventive) Division Imphal said the new trend of detecting smuggling of gold bars of ‘foreign origin’ could be because of the market rate difference of nearly Rs three lakhs per kilogram.
Four individuals including a juvenile were arrested from the spot in this connection and the Maruti van has been seized.
The value of the seized gold bars is said to be around Rs 1,20,08,100, the official added.
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So far gold weighing around 200 kilograns worth more than Rs 100 crores have been seized by the customs officials stationed in Manipur.
On May 31, the anti-smuggling unit of Customs, Imphal seized five gold biscuits of ‘foreign origin’ worth around Rs 25 lakh from the possession of an individual at Pallel town in Manipur.
Similarly, on two separate incidents on May 25 and 26 respectively, the anti-smuggling unit of Customs, Imphal seized five gold biscuits with ‘Diamond’ marking on the edge worth around Rs 26 lakhs and 12 gold bars worth Rs 62 lakhs.