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Gujarat man held at Varanasi airport with ‘smuggled gold in paste form’
DRI says accused is part of a syndicate involved in smuggling of gold and delivering it in Varanasi and Delhi
The paste-form gold is extracted into bullion or bar by those involved in gold smuggling, the official said. (Representative image)
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested a Gujarat man at the Varanasi airport for allegedly carrying smuggled gold in paste form in a flight on Sunday.
A DRI official said they had received an input about a man travelling in a Varanasi-bound flight from Sharjah with smuggled gold.
As the flight landed at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi, a team of officials carried out a search on the passenger and found gold in paste/compound form kept under his seat, he added.
The officials took the passenger in custody and found a total of 491.290 grams (net) of 24 carat foreign-origin gold valued at about Rs 70 lakh, he added.
The paste-form gold is extracted into bullion or bar by those involved in gold smuggling, the official said.
The passenger is part of a syndicate involved in the smuggling of foreign-origin gold and delivering it to clients in Varanasi and Delhi, he further said.
A case was registered against the accused under provisions of the Customs Act.
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A few days ago, the DRI had arrested a woman passenger travelling by train from Cooch Behar in West Bengal allegedly carrying smuggled foreign-origin gold from Bangladesh. The woman was held when the train reached Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction (earlier known as Mughalsarai) in Chandauli district. The agency recovered 4.98 kg gold valued at about Rs 7.11 crore from her, it was claimed.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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