Police seizes record haul of smuggled gold outside airport in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: In two separate incidents, the city crime branch and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized about 65kg gold worth Rs 17.84 crore and arrested seven persons in two cases.

The Special Operation Group (SOG) of the city crime branch arrested six people in connection with gold smuggling and seized 60kg of gold including 60 gold biscuits worth Rs 16.50 crore along with Rs 27,000 in cash from Sardar Patel International Airport here, a crime branch statement said.

The gold was allegedly smuggled from Dubai by a Mumbai -based person Clifford Anthony Fostine D'Costa along with a Haryana-based person Virendrasingh Karamveersingh Sultan and a lady Sapna Dipakbhai from Mumbai, the statement said.

The SOG nabbed the three, besides three others who had arrived to collect the illegal consignment from Dubai, the statement said.

Those who came to collect the contraband were identified as two Delhi-based persons called Jayvirsingh Shamshersingh and Kapil Jagdevsingh, along with their Gujarat-based driver Dinesh Harji Desai.

In another case, DRI nabbed one Yusuf Lookman Mohammed for allegedly smuggling substantial amount of gold into the country.

"DRI seized ten gold chains with a local market value of Rs 1,34,47,794 from Mohammed. Smuggled gold chains weighing 4999.180 grams and currency notes of 11,325 in US dollars were seized," DRI's official statement said.

DRI has begun a probe, the statement said.