An investigation into the gold smuggling case involving Chinese nationals, by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), has revealed that both the Chinese nationals have criminal records back home. They were earlier arrested and jailed in robbery and drug trafficking cases in China, sources said.
DRI had recently busted a gold smuggling racket and had arrested two Chinese nationals Wang Guangcan, 36, Weng Shunzen, 36, and their Indian counterparts Qamar Abbas Sayed, 33, a Kurla resident and Mihir Vikram Mehta, a Khar resident for being part of the syndicate that used to smuggled gold via air couriers. The gold that was smuggled used to be alloyed with silver which was further moulded in different forms such as zips, clips, plates etc.
The courier parcels containing the gold were declared as handbags, fruit trays and had the consignee details of an office at Marol. From the enquiry with Chinese nationals, it was revealed that the said smuggled gold is melted at a unit located at Dahisar and gold and silver were separated.
The agency had seized metal plates weighing over 21 kilograms of gold worth Rs 6.78 crore and over 35 kilograms of silver worth Rs 13.21 lakh. DRI had also seized 117 kilograms of silver worth Rs 40 lakh after raiding Dahisar unit.
"In his statement, Guangcan stated that he was involved in the robbery of money from people and was arrested by the Sun Ming City police, Fujian Province, in 2010. Shunzen in his statement had stated that he was involved in drug trafficking and indulged in buying and selling of Methamphetamine drugs and was arrested in 2009 by Chinese police and was imprisoned for five years. He was jailed in Putian City Jail in Fujian Province and got released in 2014," said a DRI source.
CRIMINAL RECORDS
The accused were jailed in robbery and drug trafficking cases in China. One of them indulged in buying and selling of Methamphetamine drugs, for which he was arrested in 2009 and was imprisoned for five years.
