AGARTALA: Porous international borders along the Northeast states has made gold smuggling easy.
This was stated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday.
Porous international borders of India with Myanmar and Bangladesh in Mizoram is being used extensively by smugglers for gold smuggling.
The DRI, in a statement, said that recent seizure of gold from Northeast indicates spike in smuggling activities through the international borders of India with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“While the porous borders have been used for smuggling in the past, 11 cases of gold seizure amounting to 121 kg in September 2022 alone, show that the NE corridor is still extensively being used by smugglers who are deploying ingenious ways of concealment,” the DRI statement read.
Recently, the DRI seized 65.46 kgs of foreign origin gold worth Rs 33.40 crore in Mumbai.
The gold was transported from Aizawl to Mumbai in domestic courier consignment concealed in gunny bags and declared as clothes.
“Specific intelligence indicated that an attempt will be made to smuggle substantial quantity of foreign origin gold from Champhai-Aizawl, Mizoram to Kolkata, West Bengal by carrying/concealing them in a vehicle. To interdict the contraband, coordinated action was undertaken on 28th – 29th September 2022. The DRI officers mounted surveillance on the highway connecting Siliguri – Guwahati,” DRI said.