In a covert intelligence operation code-named Golden Tap, officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) intercepted an air cargo consignment on Wednesday at Delhi Air Cargo Complex on the suspicion that it might have smuggled gold concealed therein.
The consignment, declared to contain triangle valves, had originated from Guangzhou, China, and had arrived at IGI Airport by a Japan Airlines flight.
After a thorough and prolonged examination which continued till early Thursday morning, a large number of the imported triangle valves were found to have 24 karat gold concealed in them.
The intricate method of concealment, which necessitated a careful and time-consuming extraction process, would have escaped detection had it not been for the specific intelligence gathered by the DRI officers.
After an intensive examination, the officers were able to recover 61.5 kg gold worth of Rs 32.5 crore from the consignment. The recovered gold, found to be of 99 percent purity, has been seized.
This comes on the heels of other recent seizures of gold from air cargo and courier consignments made by the agency. These include seizures of 11 kgs of gold worth more than Rs 5.88 crore in Lucknow and Mumbai this month, and previous seizures of 16.79 kg gold worth Rs 8 crore from a courier consignment in July 2021, followed by that of 80.13 kg gold worth Rs 39.31 crore in November 2021 from an air cargo consignment – both at New Delhi.
The agency’s ability to detect such sophisticated modes of concealment is reinforced by these seizures and acts as a deterrent to those attempting to compromise India’s economic frontiers. DRI remains committed to continuing its relentless crackdown against the perpetrators of these crimes.