‘Operation Molten Metal’: DRI seizes 85.5 kg gold, arrests 4 foreign nationals

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 19

In an intelligence operation code-named “Molten Metal”, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a racket of smuggling gold in machine parts and then melting it into bars.

The entire operation that included searches at farmhouses and apartments in plush localities in South Delhi and Gurgaon led to the seizure of 85.535 kg of gold and the arrest of four foreigners, including two from South Korea and one each from Taiwan and China.

The DRI had released intelligence indicating that the gold smuggled in the form of machinery parts was being melted and moulded into cylinders before being disposed of in the local market.

Acting upon the said intelligence, DRI officers examined an import consignment at the Air Cargo Complex at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

The consignment contained electroplating machines fitted with transformers whose laminates were found to have been made of gold, coated with nickel, essentially to hide the identity of the gold. Approximately 1 kg of gold was recovered from each of the 80 imported electroplating machines, said an official news release.

In a follow-up operation, the DRI seized 5.409 kg of foreign-origin gold from a Delhi-based jeweller in which the smuggled gold in the form of laminates was converted into bars.

Further search operations led to several rented properties in Chattarpur and Gurgaon where this conversion was done and four foreigners were allegedly found to be the masterminds of the conversion technique. The recovered gold, weighing 85.535 kg, valued at approximately Rs. 42 crore, has been seized.

During questioning, two of the foreigners said they had struck up a close relationship while being behind bars for previous offenses of gold smuggling.