Operation ‘Molten Metal’: 85.5 Kg Gold Seized, 4 Foreigners Apprehended

New Delhi: In a major intelligence operation, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials seized a total of 85.535 kg gold, valued at approximately Rs 42 crore, and apprehended four foreign nationals involved in smuggling activities.

Codenamed ‘Molten Metal’, DRI identified a number of Indian and foreign (Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean) nationals who were suspected to be smuggling gold into India from Hong Kong using the air cargo route, the Union Finance ministry informed in a press release.

Intelligence inputs indicated that the gold smuggled in the form of machinery parts was being melted and moulded into bar/cylinder shapes before being disposed of in the local market.

DRI officers then examined an import consignment at Air Cargo Complex of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and found electroplating machines fitted with transformers. The ‘EI’ laminates of the transformers were found to have been made of gold coated with nickel.

About 1 kg of gold was recovered from each of the 80 imported electroplating machines.

DRI also recovered 5.4 kg of foreign-origin gold smuggled into India earlier, adopting a similar modus operandi, from a Delhi-based jeweller.

During search operations conducted in rented farmhouses/apartments in plush localities of south Delhi and Gurgaon, four foreign nationals — 2 from South Korea, one each from China and Taiwan — were found to be using sophisticated metallurgical techniques to convert the smuggled gold in the form of ‘EI’ laminates into bar/cylindrical form for distribution.