Officials of India’s Directorate Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have seized 4.9 kilograms of foreign-origin gold, mid sea near the Vedhalai coast, Mandapam in Ramanathapuram district.

The operation was conducted jointly with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Customs Preventive Unit (CPU), Ramanathapuram, as per a press release.

Following specific intelligence that foreign-origin gold was being smuggled into India from Sri Lanka through the Vedhalai coast by a gang using a fishing boat, surveillance was stepped up along coastal pockets. The movement of suspected fishing boats was closely monitored from April 3, and in the early hours of April 4, 2024, officers identified a boat mid-sea and pursued it in an ICG vessel. As they were getting closer, the team saw that a consignment was thrown into the sea by one of the persons on board the suspected boat.

In the meantime, officers of CPU Ramanathapuram also joined the operation, and the location of the consignment at sea was secured, and a search operation commenced. On the afternoon of April 5, the smuggled gold was retrieved after an extensive search operation of the sea bed.

There were three persons onboard the suspected country boat and during an interrogation, they admitted that the consignment thrown into the sea consisted of foreign-origin gold smuggled from Sri Lanka, and it had been received by them, at sea, from a boat from Sri Lanka.

The consignment was found to contain crude gold bars of different sizes, weighing 4.9 kg and valued at around ₹3.43 crores. It had been tightly packed in a towel.

DRI officers said that all the three persons have been apprehended and are being interrogated.

Source: The Hindu
--Agencies