Gold Smuggling Racket Busted in Mumbai, 107 Kg Gold, Rs 1.81 Crores in Cash Seized, 7 Arrested

Mumbai: In what could be touted as the biggest gold smuggling racket bust in the recent times, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Friday arrested seven persons and seized 106.9 kg gold and cash of Rs 1.81 crores. The gold was being smuggled into India from Dubai and was about to be sold into a wholesale market. The money was then supposed to be sent back to Dubai through non-banking channels. According to DRI, more than 200 kg of gold has been smuggled till now and Rs 12 crore has been sent back to Dubai in the racket.

The seven arrested include, Shoeb Mehmood Zoradarwala, his son, Abdul Ahad Zarodarwala and Shaikh Abdul Ahad, who were involved in taking the gold from Mumbai’s Dongri to the wholesale market. Other arrested are wholesale dealer Manoj Giridharilal Jain, Happy Arvindkumar Dhakad, Hawala operator Aquil Fruitwala. Nisar Aliyar, who is reportedly a millionaire and owner of several companies has also been arrested.

The entire racket was busted after he DRI got to know about gold being smuggled into the country, concealed in containers with Brass Scrap. The DRI laid a trap in Dongri and arrested Zoradarwala and his employee Ahad when the duo was taking Rs 75 Kg of gold hidden inside a Honda City car and a shooter.

After their questioning, the entire racket was busted. The duo confessed to smuggling and revealed the name of wholesale dealers, Happy, Manoj who bought the gold. They also revealed that the money was being sent back through one Aaquil Fruitwala and who was later arrested.

The biggest arrest was made after the police found out the whereabouts of Nisar Aliyar who was summoned and arrested after he confessed to smuggling. Aliyar stated that he had sold the gold to wholesale dealers Manoj and Happy and admitted to having smuggled in more than 111 kgs of foreign origin gold into India. Hwala operator, Aaquil Fruitwala also confirmed that he had received Rs. 12 crores from Zarodarwalas which he had sent through Hawala channels to Dubai as a payment towards smuggled gold.

According to DRI, searches were conducted at the place of Zoradarwalas and Gold in cut form to the tune of 20.4 kg and 11.5 kg in foreign marked bars was recovered without any supporting evidence of import. Cash of Rs 40 lakhs and then 68 lakh was also recovered from Zoradarwalas and Manoj’s residential premises.

Courtesy: Times Now