Bhubaneswar: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths have reportedly succeeded in tracing the origin of the gold seized from Howrah-Mumbai Jnaneswari Super Deluxe Express during a raid between Rourkela and Jharsuguda October 10.
Earlier, the DRI sleuths with the help of Railway Protection Force and Central Excise team arrested two people and recovered 110 gold biscuits weighing around 13 kg from their possession. The seized gold biscuits worth around Rs 5 crore were marked with Al Etihad-UAE 10, ARG and MTM.
The major haul of smuggled gold Thursday is stated to be the largest such seizure till date in the state.
Sources claimed that the gold biscuits have been sourced from countries like UAE, China, Myanmar and Bangaldesh to Kolkata in India.
The arrested, identified as Dhanraj Mahadev Jadhav and R N Rahul, reportedly told the officers during interrogation that the gold bars were smuggled into India via Kolkata through sea and air route. Subsequently, the smugglers were transporting the smuggled items from Kolkata to Mumbai by train when the DRI officials succeeded in tracking and later seizing the contraband. The demand for gold increases manifold in India especially in the North India every year during the festivities.