Gold bars and foreign cigarettes worth Rs 3.83 crore being smuggled into India from Malaysia were seized today by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials from a container at Tuticorin port.
The seizure was based on a tip off and four persons were arrested in this connection, DRI said in a release.
They had concealed the gold and cigarettes in consignments as personal products in the container.
The gang had moved the baggage containing the smuggled goods to a private godown after the container reached the port. The container was then replaced with another one without the gold and cigarettes for customs clearance, the agency said.
DRI officials examined a container which revealed that one which weighed 6,600 kg with 385 packages with consignments has declared goods of 1,380 kg and 65 packages.
A thorough investigation revealed that 12 units of gold bars, each weighing one kilo, were concealed in individual packages in the container.
Along with the bars, four lakh cigarettes sticks of Indonesian origin were found concealed in it, the release said adding four persons involved in the case were arrested today.
Mohammed Rabeek, A Selvaraj, Raju and Rahmat Ali were produced before a Judicial Magistrate for judicial custody, the release said.
