New Delhi: Gold bricks weighing 108 kilograms and seized in eastern Ladakh along the China border on 9 July were from 17 different brands and sourced from countries including Switzerland, Hong Kong, Dubai, and various other European countries, ThePrint has learnt.
The haul was valued at Rs 82 crore.
The bricks were collected in China and then smuggled into India through a mountain pass — which is a new route, sources said.
According to them, this route was not used for gold smuggling and that this was the first reported case. They however said there would have been previous instances as smuggling 108 kg in the first attempt was very risky.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) arrested two men, suspected to be Tibetan refugees, Tsering Chamba (69) and Tenzin Targy (40), residents of Hanle, and recovered a binocular, Chinese food such as cake, milk, knives, mobile phones, and two ponies laden with gold bricks. The men were handed over to the Customs for further investigation.
“It came as a surprise to us as well. Smuggling of small items is common from this route, but this is the first time ever that a gold-smuggling racket has been exposed. We suspect this route was used previously to smuggle gold as no one would take such a risk to transport so many bricks for the first time,” a source said. “They sure had tested the waters.”
According to the source, it is also suspected that the men had full knowledge of the ITBP’s “patrolling pattern” and did not expect a contingent to be present on 9 July.
The accused were intercepted by an ITBP team that was out on long-range patrolling in the border areas in eastern Ladakh’s Southern Sub Sector (SSS) – in general area Chismule, Narbula top, Zakle, and Zakla – to check infiltration as well as smuggling.
“This is summer time when they get busy. Moreover, we had some inputs of smuggling in the area near Sirigaple, Ladakh. The men had not expected the team as they knew the patrolling pattern. This was pre-planned, but it was foiled,” the source said.
According to an ITBP officer, the patrolling was part of an operation codenamed ‘Jazba’, which was launched on 7 and 8 July.
On Thursday, the Customs detained three more people, including a person who was to receive the consignment from Dharamshala. “The men are from Leh, but they fled to Dharamshala after they got to know about the arrests,” the source quoted above said.
The men will now be probed about where the gold came from, their network and for how long they had been smuggling on this route.
“We did not know that gold was coming from China. They will now be questioned on the route taken, their handlers and the entire network. It is still unclear if this was their first attempt and their interrogation will help us unearth this racket,” the source said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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