Acting on tip off that the gold bars were smuggled in a car that was proceeding to Tiruchirapalli on the Pudukottai Highway, DRI officials intercepted the vehicle yesterday and seized 119 gold bars with foreign markings weighing 11.9 kilos.
“The gold bars valued at Rs 3.58 crore and are seized under the Provision of the Customs Act”, a DRI release said.
Investigations revealed that the gold was smuggled from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu.
“The driver of the car K Gandhi admitted that he was carrying the gold to Chennai as instructed by S Rajendran also known as Goodluck Rajendran, who has been his employer for nearly 20 years”, it said.
A team of officers rushed to the house of Rajendran in Chennai and recovered “incriminating evidences” at his residence in connection with the seized gold.
Rajendran and Gandhi were arrested and remanded to judicial custody, it said.
Rajendran was earlier arrested in connection with another case under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, it said.
PTI