The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized gold bars worth around Rs 1.5 crore and arrested two persons.
After receiving a tip-off that smuggled gold was being taken through Cooch Behar, DRI officials from Siliguri waited near Raidak Bridge on NH17 in the Tufanganj subdivision on Tuesday. They spotted two persons on a motorcycle and intercepted them.
“During interrogation, the person who was riding the bike admitted that he was carrying smuggled gold. He was arrested and brought to the DRI office in Siliguri. The other person was released,” said a source.
As he was searched, gold bars were found in his possession. He revealed the name of one of his associates who was nabbed on Wednesday. His associate, too, was carrying smuggled gold.
The arrested duo were Sonaulla Sikdar, a resident of Golakganj near Dhubri of Assam, and Dibakar Das, who is from Dalkhola in North Dinajpur. Sikdar was riding the bike.
Altogether, 16 rectangular-shaped gold bars were seized from them. The total weight of the smuggled gold is 2.481kg and the estimated price is around Rs 1.48 crore. The contraband had been smuggled into India from Bangladesh through the porous border in lower Assam.
DRI's lawyer Ratan Banik said: “Both of them were produced in a court here today (Wednesday). The court remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.”
On May 24, the DRI had seized around 2kg of gold worth around Rs 1.20 crore and arrested three persons in north Bengal.
