Guwahati, May 13: A team from the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) carried out an intensive operation in the early hours of Thursday and seized foreign-origin gold biscuits, weighing 15.93 kg, smuggled through the India-Myanmar border along the national highway between Guwahati and Dimapur.
The seized gold has been valued in the international market at Rs 8.38 crore.
The operation was code-named “Gold on the Highway”.
“Acting on the basis of specific intelligence, officers of DRI mounted discreet surveillance on two oil tankers and a truck travelling separately from Mao in Manipur to Guwahati. The vehicles were intercepted simultaneously at different points along the national highway between Dimapur and Guwahati in the early hours of May 12,” an official statement said on Friday.
“After intensive examination of the intercepted vehicles, 96 pieces of gold biscuits, weighing 15.93 kg, and carefully concealed in different parts of the three vehicles, were recovered,” it said.
Five persons of the syndicate have been arrested and all the three vehicles were seized.
Further investigations are in progress, sources said.
The DRI has, of late, intensified operations against organised gold smuggling syndicates in the country, particularly in the Northeast.
During the fiscal year 2021-22, DRI seized 833 kg of gold valued at Rs 405 crore.
“Of this, in the Northeastern states alone, DRI seized more than 208 kg gold valued at Rs 102.6 crore, smuggled through the highly sensitive India-Myanmar and India-Bangladesh border,” the statement said.