Officials Recover 32 Kg Gold Worth Rs 20.2 cr Dumped at Sea During Joint Op, 3 Held
Over 32-kilogram gold worth Rs 20.2 crores which was dumped in the sea was recovered in a joint operation.
Indian Coast Guard and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence jointly conducted an operation based on a tip-off that a large amount of gold is expected to be smuggled in a boat through Mandapam area of Rameswaram by sea. They found an unknown boat standing on the nearby island of Rameswaram.
Seeing officials, the crew members of the boat suddenly dumped a parcel inside the sea. When the crew members were interrogated and taken into custody by officials.
A team of scuba divers along with the local fishermen were employed to identify the objects that were dumped into the sea by these crew members of that unknown ferry on Wednesday. The operations continued for the second day.
The sea was rough creating a setback to the diving team to find the parcel. But operations continued and the scuba divers finally recovered the parcel.
Sources confirm that the parcel had gold valued at approximately Rs 20.2 crores and it weighed 32.689 kilograms. This gold was being smuggled into India from Sri Lanka, according to the sources.
Three crew members were arrested and further investigation is underway. A couple of incidents like these happened in the past where DRI officials seized a bag containing 17.74 kilograms of gold.
