The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested four persons in Malda and seized gold weighing 3kg and nearly Rs 22 lakh in cash early on Wednesday.

Sources said the DRI acted on a tip-off and formed a team of their forces from Siliguri, Malda and Behrampore for raids in Malda.

The team intercepted Dilip Das, Pijushkanti Ghosh a.k.a. Barun and Atul Das, residents of South Dinajpur district, at the Rathbari crossing in Malda town.

“In all, 25 gold bars, which weighed around 3kg were seized from them. The DRI team interrogated them and based on their information, raided the Jadupur-Kamalabari area under Englishbazar police station of Malda district,” said Sudipta Ganguly, a lawyer representing the DRI.

The DRI raid at the house of Mohammad Malek yielded Rs 21.96 lakh in cash. As Malek could not cite any credible source of the cash, he was also arrested.

DRI sources said the gold was smuggled from abroad.

“This kind of gold is usually found in Switzerland and Malaysia. We suspect it was smuggled into India from Bangladesh through South Dinajpur district,” said a source.

The DRI is trying to find out whether the quartet are mere carriers or are involved with a gold smuggling racket.

Later in the day, the quartet was produced at a local court. The court heard the case and sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.