- Three arrested as DRI uncovers an organised network operating through Ahmedabad and Surat airports
- Rhodium-coated gold wires, concealed gold paste and trolley-bag linings used to evade detection
- Illegal Vadodara melting unit allegedly processed smuggled gold before its sale through an Ahmedabad jewellery outlet
- Investigation exposes alleged links among airport handlers, intermediaries and a Dubai-based financier
NE LEGAL BUREAU
NEW DELHI, OCT 19
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has dismantled an organised gold-smuggling syndicate operating through Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and Surat airports, seizing 13.017 kg of foreign-origin gold valued at approximately ₹19.41 crore and arresting three persons under the Customs Act, 1962.
Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officers conducted coordinated searches over 42 hours from October 16, 2026, tracing the alleged smuggling chain from passengers carrying concealed gold to handlers, an illegal melting facility in Vadodara and a jewellery outlet in Ahmedabad where the metal was allegedly channelled into the domestic market.
The operation exposed a network that allegedly relied on sophisticated concealment techniques, intermediaries and cash transactions to move foreign-origin gold into the country and obscure its trail.
Gold concealed in wires, trolley bags
Preliminary investigations revealed that passengers allegedly smuggled gold into India using multiple concealment methods, including thin gold wires coated with rhodium, gold embedded in the inner linings of trolley bags and gold paste concealed within the bags’ inner shells.
After arriving at Ahmedabad and Surat airports, the passengers allegedly handed over the gold to handlers outside the airport premises. The consignments were subsequently routed through intermediaries to an unauthorised gold-melting facility in Vadodara, where the metal was melted before being supplied to a jewellery shop in Ahmedabad for sale against cash.
Searches expose multiple trails
The coordinated searches resulted in the seizure of approximately 890 grams of gold and the recovery of incriminating evidence relating to 6.41 kg of illegally melted gold.
Further searches at the jewellery outlet led to the recovery of undocumented foreign-origin gold bars and records relating to transactions involving approximately 5.8 kg of smuggled gold. Investigators traced this trail to a separate handler allegedly linked to the syndicate’s principal financier based in Dubai.
The investigation has identified the alleged roles of passengers, handlers, intermediaries, the operator of the melting facility and the jewellery trade channel. The Dubai-based financier, the melting-unit operator and other key individuals have also come under the investigative lens.
DRI targets the entire smuggling chain
The operation highlights the agency’s efforts to dismantle organised gold-smuggling networks by targeting the entire chain—from concealment and airport movement to financing, melting and disposal in the domestic market.
Further investigation is under way to establish the roles of the identified individuals and trace the wider network behind the alleged smuggling operation.