4.9 Kg Gold Worth Rs 3.43 Cr Seized Mid-Sea Off Tamil Nadu Coast

Chennai: Around 4.9 Kg of foreign origin gold was seized in the sea off Vedhalai coast, Mandapam in Tamil Nadu on the intervening night of 3-4 April during a joint operation of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the Customs Preventive Unit (CPU), Ramanathapuram, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

A press release on Saturday said specific intelligence was developed by the officers of DRI that gold was being smuggled into India from Sri Lanka through the Vedhalai coast in Ramanathapuram district by fishing boats.

In the early hours of April 4, the officers of the joint operation identified a suspected boat at mid sea and intercepted it. One of the three persons in the suspected Sri Lankan boat threw a consignment into the sea before they were apprehended.

The trio during interrogation admitted that the consignment thrown in the sea consisted of foreign origin gold smuggled from the island nation. According to them, they received the gold at deep sea from a boat from Sri Lanka.

On April 5, the smuggled gold was retrieved from the sea bed. The retrieved consignment included gold bars of different sizes weighing 4.9 Kg valued Rs 3.43 crore. The gold bars were tightly packed in a towel to avoid detection after being thrown into the sea.