Purnia Police has arrested a smuggler with 5 kg 840 grams of gold biscuits being smuggled in a passenger bus at Dalkola check post. The value of the seized gold is said to be around Rs 4 crore in the international market. The passenger bus was going from Siliguri to Patna. This is considered a big success of Purnia Police. This is the first time that such a quantity of gold has been recovered. SP Amir Javed told that the name of the arrested smuggler is Somnath Lahu Sanvji, who is a resident of Bhalwani under Solapur district of Maharashtra. He told that this action was taken on the basis of inputs received by the police. During checking, a person traveling in a passenger bus going from Siliguri to Patna was caught with gold biscuits. During interrogation, he did not show any documents related to gold.
Gold was being taken to Patna
The SP told that the smuggled gold was going to be delivered to a person in Patna. He is being traced. Gold biscuits were being sent from Siliguri to Patna. Arrested in this, a young man from Solapur in Maharashtra was working as a courier. In the initial interrogation, the arrested youth told that for the first time he was going from Siliguri to Patna with gold. It is not yet clear to whom the delivery was going to be done in Patna. At present, he is being interrogated thoroughly.
Smuggler had hidden gold inside T-shirt
The SP said that the recovered gold was hidden by the young man in a cloth packet inside his T-shirt. It was pasted with cello tape so that no one could get a clue from outside. All the biscuits were packed in brown colored cello tape. The gold recovered in 50 biscuits is from UAE (United Arab Emirates), which is of 24 carats. The weight of each biscuit is 116.80 grams.
Smuggling of gold from neighboring Bangladesh and Nepal border
This is not the first incident of gold smuggling in Seemanchal including Purnia. Gold is being smuggled on a large scale from the neighboring countries of Seemanchal, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, sometimes BSF and SSB jawans have also seized smuggled gold in large quantities.
On March 18, BSF’s South Frontier jawans arrested a Bangladeshi smuggler along with 40 gold biscuits from a truck full of fish on the border of North 24 Parganas and Kishanganj district of Bengal. The market value of the recovered gold was said to be 2.78 crores. This gold was being smuggled from Bangladesh to India by hiding it in a truck.
On July 20 this year, the Revenue Department recovered 155 kg of gold in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. 10 people were arrested in the case. Then the official of the Revenue Department said that the consignment of gold coming to Nepal was being sent through various routes to India. It is obvious that the border of Nepal is connected to the Seemanchal area of Parnia. It is clear from the statement of the revenue officer that the smuggled gold was being sent to different parts of the country through Seemanchal and other routes.
Smuggling increased from North Eastern states
Officials of the country’s Revenue Intelligence Department say that during the last one year, there has been a significant increase in gold smuggling from the northeastern state of Mizoram and neighboring Bangladesh. In the year 2021-22, 37 per cent of the gold seized reached India via Myanmar. According to an estimate, during the last one year, more than 200 kg of gold smuggled into this area has been seized.
open border encouraged smuggling
In fact, the open border with Myanmar, a country bordering Bangladesh and the northeastern states, has promoted smuggling. So far, 20 percent of the gold seized by the DRI had reached India from the Gulf countries. 5 kg 840 grams of smuggled gold caught by the Purnia police at the Dalkola checkpost on Friday night has also been brought from the Gulf country UAE.
gold smuggling through courier
Smuggling of gold through courier has increased in recent times. According to a report, cases of gold smuggling had increased during the Corona period. Due to the closure of air traffic during the Corona period, smuggling of gold by land had increased. Smuggling of gold through the neighboring country Nepal has also increased. According to intelligence agency sources, the people of the village adjacent to the Nepal border have been included by the smugglers in their network. These people put the gold biscuits in a bag and cycle comfortably and take them to the destination. There is a syndicate to consume the smuggled gold. People who sell, buy and mediate gold are included in this syndicate.
The wire of the arrested youth is connected to Darbhanga and Madhubani
The arrested youth Somnath is a resident of Solapur in Maharashtra. In the year 2015, he used to work in jewelery shops in Bihar’s Darmbhga and Madhubani cities. After working for five years, he went back home from there. At present, he has not given any information about himself to the police. The police is making a deep inquiry.