Shillong, Sep 24: The Customs has seized gold worth crores of rupees in two months in the city.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Customs said acting on specific information that a sizable quantity of gold of foreign origin smuggled through the Indo-Bangladesh borders of Meghalaya would be carried in a car to Guwahati, officers of the Commissioner of Customs Preventive (CCP) Shillong intercepted a Mahindra XUV500 car in the early morning of September 23 at Jhalupara, Shillong. The car had one occupant who was based in Rangia in Assam, though originally from West Bengal.
On interrogation, he confessed that smuggled gold of foreign origin was in his possession. Thereafter, 14 pieces of gold, which were packed in two plastic pouches were recovered. Total weight was 1632.450 grams valued at Rs. 1,01,78,326.
Specific details of a middleman who had handed him 7 pieces were gathered and on follow-up action, the officers of CCP intercepted the person at Jhalupara.
The man revealed that he had collected the gold from a lady at a shop at Barabazar. A further operation at the shop resulted in recovery of Rs. 9.5 lakh which is admitted to be the sale proceeds of smuggled gold. The cash was seized.
The lady was also interrogated, and it was revealed that the gold was smuggled from the Indo-Bangladesh border. Three persons have been arrested and further investigation is in progress.
One more case
In another case, in the last one month, the officers of CCP Shillong seized 5 gold biscuits weighing 582.70 grams.
They were recovered from a person travelling in a Maruti 800 car which was intercepted near Jorabat. This gold was smuggled from the Indo-Bangladesh border at Bholaganj. Immediate follow up at a house in Lumparing from which the gold was collected resulted in recovery of Indian currency amounting to Rs. 3.96 crore, believed to be sale proceeds of smuggled gold, which was also seized.
The Customs said it remains committed to combating all types of cross border crime involving smuggling of gold, cigarettes, drugs and narcotics, wild life articles, fake Indian currency notes, import-export frauds and trade based money laundering. Customs works in close partnership with various other law enforcement agencies, it said.
“Anybody can support the fight against cross border crime, smuggling and trade based money laundering by giving information to customs. The names of informer are not only kept confidential, but there is an excellent reward scheme also”, the customs said in a statement.
Tax free. For details of the reward scheme, the customs wanted people to download the document at https://old.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/reward-scheme-for-informers.pdf
