Business: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a gold smuggling gang in Mumbai. Officials informed that precious metal worth Rs 15 crore has been seized. Under this action, 11 people including the mastermind have been arrested.

Violation of import rules and theft of revenue
Investigation revealed that these gangs were planning to bring the gold illegally into the country and sell it in the gray market. This not only led to violation of import rules and theft of government revenue.

Raids were conducted at four places in the city
DRI Mumbai zonal unit had received information about the operations of gold smuggling and melting syndicate in Mumbai. Based on this, DRI teams conducted simultaneous searches at four locations in the city on Monday. This included two illegal melting units and two unregistered shops.

The officer said they found a fully functional unit, where the smuggled gold was being melted and converted into wax and other forms such as bars. A total of 6.35 kg of gold was seized from the melting units and those operating the furnaces were arrested. He said that 5.53 kg gold bars were recovered in the searches conducted at two shops linked to the mastermind.

11.88 kg gold and 8.72 kg silver seized
In total, DRI seized 11.88 kg 24 carat gold worth Rs 15.05 crore and 8.72 kg silver worth Rs 13.17 lakh.
The 11 arrested include the mastermind, a known criminal previously involved in smuggling cases, his father, a manager, four hired smugglers, an accountant and three delivery persons, the official said. All the accused have been produced in the court and sent to judicial custody.