DRI says a courier network allegedly moved about 318 kg of gold

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in Mumbai says it has broken an organised gold-smuggling syndicate in an operation it named Operation Border Bullion Bust. Free Press Journal, Aaj Tak and Lokmat Times reported the agency's account. The quantities, the route and the roles below are that account. They remain allegations until a court decides.

According to Free Press Journal, the Mumbai Zonal Unit started the operation on 23 September after what it called specific intelligence. The agency said foreign-origin gold was being smuggled through the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal and Assam, then moved inside the country for distribution by courier. Lokmat Times reported the same border claim and the same operation name.

The figure of about 318 kg is not what officers say they seized. Free Press Journal said a preliminary look at documents collected in the investigation showed that the syndicate had allegedly transported and delivered about 318 kg of smuggled gold, valued at about ₹475 crore, through the courier network in the first nine months of 2026. Lokmat Times put the same weight and value on distribution "over the past nine months." Aaj Tak also reported 318 kg and about ₹475 crore, and described the link to the syndicate as alleged.

What the agency said it recovered in the raids was smaller. All three outlets reported 6.61 kg of foreign-origin gold bars, valued at about ₹10.36 crore, seized under the Customs Act, 1962. Lokmat Times added that the ₹10.36 crore figure was an international-market value.

The arrests were put at 11, including one man held in Mumbai. Free Press Journal called him one of the alleged masterminds and said he was suspected of coordinating dispatch and delivery. Lokmat Times called him the alleged kingpin and said he had been arrested in Mumbai. This report uses both descriptions and does not treat either title as a court finding.

Free Press Journal said officers intercepted live courier consignments booked from Guwahati and Kolkata for recipients in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad, and apprehended seven recipients. It said searches at consignors and shippers led to three people being held in Kolkata. Lokmat Times reported the same split: seven people who had come to receive parcels were detained in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad, and three were arrested in Kolkata. The agency said the gold was allegedly sent in many small parcels, without the required documents, for sale in the domestic market.

Aaj Tak's account of the route is wider than that. It said gold arriving across the India-Bangladesh border was being split into small courier parcels and sent on to cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Guwahati. Free Press Journal and Lokmat Times described Guwahati and Kolkata as the booking points, and Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad as the delivery cities. This report does not add any leg of the route beyond those accounts.

The outlets said further investigation was under way to identify others in the alleged network and to trace how the gold moved from the land border to destinations in India. Aaj Tak said the agency was still looking at who else was involved and where the gold was sold.

What's next

The DRI said the investigation was continuing. No court outcome is reported in these accounts. Until there is one, the syndicate, the 318 kg figure and the route stay allegations. The 6.61 kg seizure is reported as action already taken under the Customs Act.