60 gold bars were recovered from India-Bangladesh international border. The gold bars were being smuggled into India from Benapole land port in Jessore. Meanwhile, a smuggler named Suraj Mog (23) was arrested by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF). The market value of the seized gold is around Rs 4 crore 32 lakh (over Rs 5 crore in Bangladeshi currency).
BSF said in a notification that a truck driver was arrested while smuggling gold on Wednesday morning. 60 gold bars were recovered from him.
Suraj Mog is a resident of Jaipur village of Bangaon police station in North 24 Parganas of West Bengal. The gold bars were being smuggled to India from Benapole, Bangladesh.
The BSF also said that at the check post at the ICP Petrapol land port under South Bengal Frontier, Indian Border Guard Force personnel of 145 battalion spotted an empty truck coming from Bangladesh towards India. They stopped the truck and searched it.
Meanwhile, 60 gold bars wrapped in white transparent tape were recovered from inside the cabin of the back seat of the truck. BSF immediately arrested the truck driver and seized the gold bars.
In the interrogation, the accused Suruj Mog said, I have been driving this truck for almost a year. We often take goods from Kolkata to Bangladesh through Petrapole-Benapole port.
He said that last Monday I went to Benapole land port with a truck loaded with export goods. Parked the truck there on Tuesday as it was late to empty it. After emptying the cargo truck, a Bangladeshi national named Mohammad Mamun asked me to hand over the gold bars to a man named Azgar Sheikh of Petrapol. I was given 10 thousand rupees in return.
Mother needs money for treatment. That is why Suraj Mogh claimed to have agreed to the illegal gold smuggling.
BSF has handed over the accused and the seized gold bars to Kolkata Customs.
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