Chennai: Sleuths from the directorate of revenue intelligence on Sunday seized 8.3 kg of gold strips worth Rs 2.4 crore at the Central Railway station from two passengers travelling in a train from Guwahati to Chennai.
DRI said that the gold, procured from Indo- Myanmar border, was concealed in a false bottom of the bags of passengers DL Thara and LK Zou. The two were arrested by the DRI.
“On preliminary examination, their bags appeared heavy and it was later found that they had concealed gold strips in the bags. When we tore open the base of the bag, a rectangular shaped sheet folded in plastic resin and wrapped with black coloured tape emerged. When opened further, the officers found gold sheets intricately concealed inside,” DRI said.
The officials found 10 such sheets, all made of 24-karat pure gold. The total weight of the gold was found to be 8.33 kg. The gold bars had been beaten into strips to erase foreign markings and also for shaping them into sheets for concealing easily in the bottom of luggage bags. “The concealment was also made intricate and deep so that it is difficult to detect by enforcement agencies,” DRI said.
