Gold-for-forex cartel busted, 7 Chinese, 1 Indian held
NEW DELHI: Seven persons from Hong Kong, including four women, were arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday as they were trying to smuggle out foreign currency worth $890,000 (₹6.14 crore), one half of a racket that involved smuggling gold into the country. During interrogation, it emerged the same people had smuggled 18 kg of gold into the country on August 3.
A 30-year-old Indian from Karol Bagh, who masterminded the smuggling operation with the help of his brother stationed in Hong Kong, was also arrested by the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI). The modus operandi was straightforward: smuggle gold in from Hong Kong, where it is cheaper, and smuggle forex out from India to fund more purchases of gold. For instance, on Tuesday, a gram of gold was priced around ₹2,690 in HK, against ₹3,050 in India.
The seven persons were apprehended on the basis of a tipoff after they arrived at the airport to board a Cathay Pacific flight, CX-694, to Hong Kong. The US dollars were found tightly wrapped in towels inside their luggage so as to escape detection by security and custom checks at the airport, officials said.
According to a senior DRI official who asked not to be named, the department received intelli- gence at 1:10 am on Monday that a passenger, Kai Lien Kao, along with his five associates – Tsong Yu Chia, Chen Wen Hsien, Tsai Kun Nan, Wang Yi Chieh and Liu Yen Mei -- would arrive at the Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport with a large amount of forex.
A deputy director of DRI’S Delhi zonal unit who asked not to be named said the team swung into action and detained all six persons after their immigration check was done.
“On questioning, it was revealed that they are carrying the money in their checked-in baggage. Following a fresh input, another person – Kuan Ting Lee, who was scheduled to board the same flight, was detained from the boarding gate area. The checked-in baggage of all the seven passengers were seized and $890,000 worth ₹6.14 crore in Indian currency were recovered,” this officer said.
During questioning, the Chinese nationals revealed that they were being directed by two brothers from India – one based in New Delhi and the other in Hong Kong. “They said each each of them was promised a sum of 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese Yuan (₹40,000 to ₹50,000). They were asked to hand over the 18 kg of gold to the Indian man in New Delhi and take back forex from him and hand it over to his brother in Hong Kong,” the deputy director said. The seven persons said they smuggled in the gold by concealing it in lumbar belts.dri arrested the brother based in India but declined to name him. “The Indian disclosed that he has smuggled gold the same way at least seven to eight times and used a different set of carriers to avoid detection,” the first DRI officer said.