DRI Busts Gujarat Gold Racket, 13 Kg Seized Worth Rs 19.41 Cr

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has broken up an organised gold smuggling ring that was bringing foreign gold into India through two Gujarat airports, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at Ahmedabad and Surat International Airport. Three people have been arrested under the Customs Act of 1962. The dealings uncovered involved 13.017 kg of foreign-origin gold valued at roughly Rs 19.41 crore.

A 42-hour operation

Officers first kept the suspects under watch on the strength of specific intelligence, then carried out searches at several places over 42 hours starting 16 October 2026. The searches laid bare the whole chain, from the carriage of gold by air passengers and its hand-over to local handlers, through an illegal melting unit, to the sale of the metal through a jewellery outlet.

How the gold was hidden

The early findings point to unusual methods of concealment. Gold was drawn into thin wires and coated with rhodium so that it would not look like gold. Some of it was fitted into the inner linings of trolley bags, and some was carried as gold paste packed inside the inner shells of the same bags. Once the carriers were out of the airport the gold was handed to waiting men, passed on through middlemen and taken to an illegal melting facility at Vadodara. The melted metal was then supplied to a jewellery shop in Ahmedabad and sold for cash.

What was recovered

The searches led to the seizure of about 890 grams of gold, along with records pointing to a further 6.41 kg that had already been melted illegally. At the jewellery shop the officers found undocumented foreign-origin gold bars and papers covering dealings in about 5.8 kg of smuggled gold that had moved through a separate handler. That handler was linked to the syndicate's main financier, who is based in Dubai.

Why this case is set as a question

The case is a textbook example of a smuggling chain with every link named: the passenger carrier, the handler outside the airport, the intermediary, the operator of the melting unit, the jewellery trade channel and the financier abroad. For revision, keep apart the two laws this agency works with, the Customs Act of 1962 for smuggled goods such as gold and the narcotics law for drug consignments, and remember that the financier in this case was operating from Dubai.