Siliguri, 29th August: In a significant breakthrough, the team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Siliguri Unit, seized gold biscuits worth crores by undertaking an operation in three different Kolkata bound trains at New Jalpaiguri (NJP) railway station. Following this, 8 individuals have been arrested on charges of gold smuggling. The arrested accused has been identified as Dilbar Miya (43), Noor Muhammad Miya (45), Rezaul Haque (30), Mehboob Hasan (19), Rezaul Rehman (38), Russell Haque (19), Rubel Hussain (21), and Shahnoor Haque (23), all residents of Cooch Behar district.
As per reports, foreign gold was sent to the Indo-Bangladesh border in Cooch Behar for smuggling. Following this, eight individuals left for Kolkata by boarding Uttar Banga Express and Padatik Express trains from Cooch Behar.
Meanwhile, on Monday night, the DRI team of the Siliguri Unit, acting on a tip-off, launched an operation at the NJP railway station. During the subsequent search of the suspects, 80 pieces of gold biscuits were recovered from a special pocket made inside the pants. The total weight of the seized gold was over 9 kg, with an estimated market value of 5 crore, 59 lakh, 60 thousand 973 rupees.
Meanwhile, all the accused were produced before the Siliguri Court after registering a case of illegal gold trafficking. Following this, the court directed for 14 days judicial custody of the accused.
In this regard, defense lawyer Akashdeep stated that the DRI arrested eight of his clients in the wrong case. He added that, on the next date, they would file bail applications for their clients. On the other hand, DRI lawyer Ratan Banik claimed that DRI achieved significant success. He added that the DRI team is engaged in an investigation to apprehend more individuals involved in the gold smuggling gang.