DRI seizes 44 kg smuggled gold hidden in egg incubators

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized around 44 kg smuggled gold on Saturday and arrested an importer in this regard. The importer later revealed that till now, he has already smuggled around 300kg of gold.

For a long time, the DRI had been tracking a person involved in the manufacturing of poultry appliances. This person had even imported poultry-related equipment from Dubai in the recent past. The DRI officials suspected that he was involved in gold smuggling.

Then on Saturday morning, the Delhi zonal unit of the DRI intercepted a truck coming from the Mundra Port in Gujarat near Chander Vihar in Delhi. A search revealed 44kg foreign-marked gold in the truck. It was concealed in a metal case of a poultry egg incubator.

The smuggler would later retrieve the gold by cutting and drilling into the metallic case and then pump it into the black market for sale.

"The gold bars were wrapped in a thick silver-grey paper smeared in adhesive to prevent metallic sound during movement. The concealment was almost impossible to detect during routine examination of cargo by Customs officials," an official said.

A senior DRI official said searches were then conducted at the residence and the factory of the accused, which led to the recovery of several incriminating evidences of smuggling and hawala transactions to Dubai. The truck driver, importer, and his associates have been summoned.