Gold bars smuggled from Lanka to India seized

Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai zonal unit, seized 15.2 kg of gold bars that were smuggled from Sri Lanka and arrested two persons transporting them in a car near the Papanadu village in the Thanjavur district in Tiruchi on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off that gold bars were being brought by boat from Sri Lanka to Muthupet coastal area for transportation to Chennai by car, a team of DRI officers positioned themselves on the Pattukottai?Thanjavur National Highway near Papanadu village in the early hours on Wednesday.

The team intercepted the car and questioned the occupants, Karthikeyan and Sheik Fareed, who admitted to having concealed the smuggled gold bars.

The officers recovered 12 packets containing gold bars hidden below the back seat of the vehicle. There were 80 foreign marked gold bars and 24 pieces of crude gold bars, totally weighing 15.2 kg estimated at Rs. 4.1 crore. (Courtesy The Hindu)