Kolkata: The Border Security Force (BSF) has nabbed a Bangladeshi woman along the Indo-Bangla border in West Bengal for attempting to smuggle gold from Petrapole in the North 24 Parganas district, officials said.
The woman, identified as a resident of Comilla district in Bangladesh, was detained by BSF personnel stationed at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) Petrapole, a statement by the BSF said.
The jawans of the 145 battalion, as part of routine passenger screening, stopped the woman Tuesday morning. Upon scanning her with a metal detector, the personnel detected the presence of metal in her wrists. A subsequent search revealed that she was wearing three gold bangles on each hand, officials added.
When questioned, the woman failed to provide a satisfactory explanation or produce any documents related to the gold. She later claimed that the bangles were a gift from her husband. However, upon testing the purity of the gold, it was found to be 99.76 per cent pure, which is uncommon for regular jewellery, they said.
The total weight of the seized gold was 103.090 grams, with an estimated market value of Rs 8,82,966.
The woman and the recovered gold have been handed over to authorities concerned for legal proceedings, they added.
PTI