Guwahati based bullion trader busted: Rs. 2000 cr racket comes to a halt

 A Guwahati-based bullion trader, Narendra Kumar Jain has been arrested for smuggling 7,000 kgs of gold through Indo-Myanmar land border and bringing it to Delhi through an airline. A probe by the officials of revenue department has revealed that the trader made hundreds of smuggling trips and is said to be the mastermind of a Rs 2,000 crore smuggling racket. This probably is the single biggest case of detection of gold smuggling by any agency in India.  Interrogation has revealed that Jain had made 617 trips to Guwahati for the purpose of smuggling gold over a period of past two and a half years. So far smugglers had been known to be using train and bus routes to carry smuggled gold into different parts of India. However Jain had adopted a new modus operandi. He used to smuggle 24 carat purity gold bars into India through Indo-Myanmar land borders. Once the gold bars were received in Guwahati, he would declare and book gold as valuable cargo in domestic flights between Guwahati and Delhi. Interestingly he was using a particular private airline for this purpose. This has also led to the questioning of the airline staff. Investigation has revealed that the airline staff was aware of the gold being transported through cargo. The Guwahati based bullion trader came in Directorate of Intelligence net when his 10 kg gold consignment was seized at domestic terminal of IGI Airport early this month. He along with his Delhi-based aide was arrested by the sleuths. He smuggled the gold into India’s Mizoram and Manipur states from Chin State and Sagaing Division Spread over a period of past two and half years, this probably is the single biggest case of detection of gold smuggling by any agency in India.