Tamil Nadu smugglers on new rail, road trail bring gold from Burma.

CHENNAI: Four passengers in a 2nd class airconditioned coach of the Guwahati-Chennai express prepared to alight as the train approached Chennai Central on Saturday morning. The men were relaxed: They were close to completing another successful trip.

What they did not know was that their every move was being keenly watched by sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). As the train entered the station, two DRI men swiftly closed in and arrested them. The investigators found they were carrying 9kg of gold worth Rs 2.7 crore concealed in two power inverters.

Meanwhile, two other operations were underway at Howrah and Guwahati railway stations, where DRI men seized gold bars weighing a combined 18kg, worth Rs 5.4 crore, from two men of the same smuggling cartel controlled by a man based in Chennai.

A senior investigating officer said, before the bust, the gang brought at least of 5kg gold every day to Chennai from Burma via Guwahati.

Not travelling by air because of enhanced security at airports, the cartel travelled by train from Guwahati to Chennai after bringing the gold into the country from Myanmar through the border town of Moreh, and transporting it by road to Imphal and then Guwahati.

An officer said the leader of the cartel, who apparently considers the business to be a 'logistic service', counts among his clients several jewellery manufacturers as well as leading jewellers in Chennai.

The investigating officer said the DRI would soon issue a lookout notice for the cartel's leader, a resident of Chennai's Seven Wells area. Most of his gang members are relatives. Three out of four men arrested by the DRI in Chennai are the brothers-in-law of the kingpin's third wife. "A family business ensures that the leader has loyalty, control and less expense," the officer said.

He said the cartel's operation marked a change in the modus operandi of gold smugglers. Smugglers earlier struck deals with migrant workers and refugees, offering them a pittance to bring gold to the city.

With the Reserve Bank of India putting the squeeze on gold imports to rein in the current account deficit, raising duty several times this year, there has been a spike in smuggling of the precious metal.

"The import duty hikes has resulted in several traders enlisting the services of smugglers to source gold," a leading gold merchant in the city said.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com