A team from Kotwali police station in Jalpaiguri has seized 14 gold bars weighing 1.6kg from two youths while they were travelling in a car on Saturday on NH27 that skirts the town.

The police arrested Saurav Ashok Mandle and Rahul Kodak, both residents of Sangli district in Maharashtra, and suspect that they are members of a gold smuggling racket. The cost of the seized gold is Rs 84 lakh.

Sources said Mandle and Kodak had approached Bapi Roy, a cab driver in Dhupguri, around 40km from Jalpaiguri town. Initially, they had told Bapi that they wanted to go to Siliguri.

“However, soon after they boarded the car and it left Dhupguri, they offered Rs 30,000 to the driver and asked him to take them to Calcutta. They also asked him to avoid the Maynaguri toll plaza and take an alternative route,” said a police officer.

As the car reached the outskirts of Maynaguri, the duo asked Bapi to buy petrol worth Rs 2,500.

Bapi smelt something amiss called up the officer in charge (traffic) of Kotwali police station, Bappa Saha, from the petrol pump. Saha immediately contacted the police team that was patrolling on NH27. As the car reached Gosala More on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri, they intercepted it.