The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has busted a pan-India gold smuggling syndicate that used courier networks, the Finance Ministry announced on September 28. Officials seized 6.61 kg of foreign-origin gold worth about Rs 10.36 crore.

Eleven people were arrested, including the alleged mastermind. Coordinated searches and interceptions took place in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Guwahati on September 23 and 24.

The gold was smuggled across the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal and Assam. It was then sent as live courier parcels booked from Guwahati and Kolkata for delivery in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.

Seven recipients were caught, along with three more people at a consignor’s premises in Kolkata and a coordinator in Mumbai. The shippers and recipients were paper companies and individuals with no legitimate gold trade.

Preliminary scrutiny suggests about 318 kg of smuggled gold worth around Rs 475 crore may have moved through the network in the first nine months of 2026. The gold was seized under the Customs Act, 1962. Investigators are still verifying the scale, and further arrests are possible as the probe continues.