Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Sunday nabbed one of the alleged key members of the gold smuggling syndicate having links with an informant, who used to apparently double-cross the agency.
With the latest arrest of I S Rathod, a resident of Bhuleshwar, from Vapi, Gujarat, the number of alleged syndicate members nabbed so far has risen to eight. According to the DRI, he was responsible for transferring the proceeds of smuggled gold through hawala.
The agency sources said that Rathod was intercepted in Vapi on March 8 and arrested the next day. “The accused admitted that he was part of the syndicate. He further revealed that due to fear of legal consequences, he had fled Mumbai and went into hiding at his brother’s place in Vapi,” an official said.
Rathod was involved in all cash dealings and token transactions for the smuggling operations, he alleged, adding that his residence was used for keeping smuggled gold and cash.
The syndicate tricked the DRI by providing selective intelligence about the contraband through informant R S Jain. They would typically collect smuggled gold up to 20 kg from other illegal players in the market, after which Jain used to give a tip-off regarding 4 to 5 kg, said the officials. In this manner, the syndicate would route the major chunk of the contraband undetected.
Jain got exposed when the DRI caught two women with 22.89 kg of gold worth Rs 16.91 crore. Investigation revealed that he was the husband of one of the women involved in smuggling, said the officials.
