Guwahati : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Assam Rifles had seized gold biscuits weighing around 12 kg valued at Rs 3.62 crore in Manipur’s Moreh town along with Indo-Myanmar border on Thursday.
According to the reports, on the basis of specific intelligence developed by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), a joint team of DRI and Assam Rifles had conducted an operation and made a seizure of 12.075 kg of gold worth of Rs 3.62 crore.
A top DRI official said that, the joint team of DRI and Assam Rifles at PVCP Khudengthabi stopped two Maruti Van travelling from Moreh towards Imphal for checking.
While carrying out thorough inspection of the vehicle, gold biscuits were found hidden inside the front and rear tyre of both vehicles.
DRI and Assam Rifles troops had apprehended two persons.
The gold was smuggled into India through the Indo-Myanmar border.
The gold have been seized under the customs act 1962.
Further investigation is on in the case.
DRI is the lead agency to combat cross border crime involving smuggling of gold, consumer goods, drugs and narcotics, wild life articles, Fake Indian Currency Notes and counterfiet goods, import-export frauds and trade based money laundering.
The North Eastern region including Assam having boundaries with Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and China is particularly sensitive from the perspective of smuggling acitivities and cross border crime.
There have been significant seizures of gold bars of foreign origin smuggled from Myanmar through the Indo-Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh and also from the Zokhawthar border with Myanmar in Mizoram.
Combating this cross border crime in this region poses various challenges on account of factors such as rugged topography and porosity of theborders, lack of economic opportunities and the lure of easy money.
To overcome these challenges, in order to further the cause of enforcement of cross border crime, DRI has joined hands with various formations such asCustoms, Assam Rifles, BSF, State Police agencies, Forests and Wild Life Crime Cotrol Bureau amongst others in the region.
This year DRI with the help of Assam Rifle has made seizure of total 28 kg of foreign origin smuggled gold in two separate cases at Moreh area in Manipur.
The DRI and Assam Rifle had recently seized 3,20,000 tablets of Methamphetamine having total weight of 38.5 kg under NDPS act 1985.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
