Mangaluru, March 19, 2020: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials have busted a gold smuggling racket and have arrested a total of seven persons. Overall, 9.3 kg gold valued at around Rs 4 crore, 5.2 kg silver and cash of Rs 84 lakh has been seized.
On March 11, the DRI sleuths had first seized gold bars weighing 5.6 kgs from two persons at the Mangaluru Central Railway Station. The seized gold bars were in crude form and were seized when they were brought to Mangaluru from Calicut. Those arrested are Ashoka K S and Syed Mohammad.
The DRI sleuths also arrested a person named Manjunath Shet alias Rupesh who was waiting at the parking lot of the railway station to collect the gold from the duo.
Later the DRI also raided several premises at Carstreet in Mangaluru as well as in Udupi and Shivamogga. The sleuths also seized two specially designed Toyota Etios cards which had cavities to conceal gold while transporting between Calicut and Mangaluru.
Following the operation the total number of arrests stand at seven. Those arrested include the suspected mastermind Naveen Chandra Kamath of Udupi.