DRI officials seize gold bars worth Rs 2.74 cr

Over eight kg of gold bars, valued at Rs 2.74 crore and smuggled from Sri Lanka, were today seized from a bus on the East Coast Road and three persons detained in this connection.
A special team from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence unit intercepted the government-run bus on the Nagore-Karaikal route and questioned two passengers--Yakub Maraikkayar and Mushtaq Amir Bin Mahisab--who confessed to concealment of gold bars in their baggage, a DRI release said.
The duo were transporting the gold after it arrived from Sri Lanka illegally through a fishing vessel.
"After a detailed scrutiny of the passengers, the officials seized 24 carat gold bars weighing 8.763 kilograms valued at Rs 2.74 crore in the international market," it said.

The officials also detained another person Sulaiman who had brought the gold bars from Sri Lanka and handed it over to the duo, the release said.
All the three persons confessed to the crime and necessary legal action would be undertaken under provisions of Customs Act, 1962, it added.
DRI officers were deployed in vulnerable coastal areas in Southern districts of Tamil Nadu, to detect gold smuggling through sea coast and the team intercepted the bus during regular surveillance.