Guwahati: In a major haul, Meghalaya Police busted an interstate gold smuggling racket and arrested five persons including a woman.
Acting on a tip-off, Nongpoh police launched a search operation and recovered gold biscuits from a passenger who was travelling in a tourist taxi.
According to reports, the passenger was heading towards Guwahati from Shillong.
Reportedly, the seized gold weighs around 800 gm worth more than Rs. 50 lakh.
The person identified as Abu Bakkar.
Reports further stated that Bakkar smuggled the gold biscuits from Shillong to hand over the Saddique Ali and Sahjahan of Barpeta district in Assam.
Meanwhile, a search operation was also conducted in Barpeta wherein over Rs 27 lakh cash was seized from Shahjahan’s possession.
In total, five persons have been arrested in connection to the case. They have been identified as Abu Bakkar, Shah Jahan, Md. Saddique Ali (all from Barpeta,) Aziz Lyngdoh, (Laban, Shillong) and Subalin Kharbani (Mawlai.)
Moreover, police officials also recovered 10 mobile phones and seven ATM cards from their possession.
Sharing the news on Twitter, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma wrote, “Interstate Gold Smuggling racket busted. @RibhoiPolice intercepted one taxi on 24th June. Subsequent smart ops for 15 days, resulted in the arrest of 5 accused & recovery of 819 gms Gold, Cash ₹27.11 Lakh, M/phones-10, ATM/Fake I-cards-07.”
Interstate Gold Smuggling racket busted. @RibhoiPolice intercepted one taxi on 24th June. Subsequent smart ops for 15 days, resulted in the arrest of 5 accused & recovery of
✅819 gms Gold
✅Cash ₹27.11 Lakh
✅M/phones-10
✅ATM/Fake I-cards-07Well done again, @MeghalayaPolice! pic.twitter.com/QWNMSfJRuv
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) July 9, 2022