New Delhi: During a raid last night, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police, in collaboration with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), recovered over 88 kilograms of gold suspected to have been smuggled into India, ThePrint has learnt.
The gold was seized from a residential flat belonging to Megh Shah, son of one stock broker Mahendra Shah in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad, sources in the Gujarat ATS and DRI confirmed.
The value of the recovered gold is estimated to be over Rs 80 crore.
This major seizure comes amid heightened surveillance by intelligence and investigative agencies, including the Gujarat ATS and DRI, following the arrest of Kannada actor Ranya Rao earlier this month at the Bengaluru airport with a substantial quantity of gold.
The raid at Megh Shah’s flat in Paldi commenced after Gujarat ATS officials identified the location early Monday morning. Subsequently, the Ahmedabad zonal unit of the DRI was brought into the operation.
“The DRI was involved due to its jurisdiction over high-volume gold smuggling offences. The raid, which began around noon, continued until Monday evening,” a Gujarat ATS official told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
The operation was initiated based on intelligence inputs received by ATS Deputy Superintendent of Police S.L. Chaudhary. Officials emphasised that these inputs were further analysed to pinpoint the exact location of the targeted flat.
“The DSP received intelligence from his sources indicating that a quantity of smuggled gold was being stored in a high-rise residential building in Ahmedabad. We identified the flat this morning and conducted the raid with a team from the local DRI unit,” another Gujarat ATS official said.
Along with the huge cache of gold, officials from the agencies also recovered jewellery weighing 19.66 kilograms, fitted with diamonds and other precious metals, the DRI said in a statement Tuesday.
In addition, cash amounting to Rs 1.37 crore was also recovered from the said residential premises.
This report has been updated to reflect latest developments
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)