Duo from Assam held with over 1 kg gold at Chennai Central station

The foreign gold bars were beaten flat to convert them to sheets and were intricately woven into the bottom of carriage bags. The DRI sleuths intercepted the duo when they got down at Chennai Central Station on Sunday by Guwahati-Trivandrum Superfast Express. 

DRI officials, who had been pursuing specific intelligence input that gold, smuggled into the country through the Indo-Myanmar border, was being brought to Chennai through trains from Guwahati, intercepted D I Thara and I K Zou, who came by the train and interrogated them.

The duo later confessed to carrying smuggled gold. DRI officials took them to the office and subjected the bag for detailed examination. Officials removed the contents of the bags and still found them to be heavy. They then tore the outer resin of the bags and found gold sheets intricately woven in to the fabric at the bottom. 

DRI officials recovered 10 such sheets, totally weighing 8,330 grams valued at Rs 2,45,62,671 as per the gold rate on Sunday. DRI sources said the 1.165 kg gold bars were beaten in to sheets to remove the foreign gold markings and for convenient concealment. However, some of the sheets had foreign gold marks still visible. 

The Air Customs Intelligence officials on Monday seized 1.1 kg of gold smuggled in by a man from Andhra Pradesh who had landed in Chennai from Qatar. 

The customs officials, who received specific intelligence regarding the smuggling of gold by a person from Qatar to Chennai, intercepted Ahammed Basha. 

The officials waited to see whether Basha would declare his baggage and caught him when he tried to sneak out without declaring the valuables he  was carrying. 

Customs officials then took him to their room for a detailed interrogation. They checked his baggage and found an emergency lamp inside. The officials broke open the lamp and found gold bars concealed inside. 

Customs sources said there were 35 gold biscuits of foreign origin concealed inside the emergency lamp. The officials seized the consignment and arrested Basha. Further probe is on.