Smuggler hides gold biscuits in abdomen, nabbed after X-Ray
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Jan, 2023 11:19 AM
Kolkata, Jan 31 (IANS) The Border Security Force (BSF) had to get an X-Ray done on a smuggler to get hold of eight gold biscuits hidden inside his lower abdomen.
The biscuits weigh 932 gm and their estimated market value is Rs 54,78,855.
The incident occurred on Monday under the jurisdiction of the Amudia Border Outpost, manned by troops of the 112 BN, BSF. This is in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal that shares an international border with the Satkhira district of Bangladesh.
Madai Mandal of Amudia village was stopped by BSF personnel for a routine search.
Though no incriminating item was found during the search, the hand-held metal detectors kept beeping when brought close to his lower abdomen.
Mandal maintained that he wasn't aware why this was happening. Finally, the BSF personnel shifted him to a local hospital and got an X-Ray done.
The X-Ray plate revealed the presence of some metallic objects inside his lower abdomen.
"Mandal broke down finally and confessed that they were gold biscuits. He had been given the biscuits by one Rahim of Satkhira, Bangladesh and was to hand them over to one Suresh of Bithari village in North 24-Parganas. For a mere Rs 300, he had stuffed the biscuits up his anal passage. He also admitted that he has been involved in such activities for a long time now. The biscuits were extracted and handed over to the Customs office in Tentulia along with Mandal for further processing," a senior official of the BSF's South Bengal Frontier said.
The Commanding Officer of the 112Bn said that smugglers are adopting such tactics to evade strict monitoring along the International Boundary with Bangladesh.
A search has been launched for Suresh and others who may have been involved in this operation.
In the past, smugglers have tried such tactics at airports to evade Customs officials but this is probably the first time that an attempt was made along the land border in West Bengal.
In a status report before Justice Anoop Chitkara's Bench, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sukhnaaz Singh said in view of the facts and circumstances, it is evident that there is sufficient prima facie evidence on record which reveals that the petitioner is the main conspirator, who hatched conspiracy with Gaurav Patial (accused) for eliminating Middukhera.
In January 2019, a special CBI court in Panchkula also sentenced Rahim and three others to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati over 16 years ago. His conviction on August 25, 2017 had led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa, leaving 41 people dead and over 260 injured.
According to customs officials, "The gold was in the form of a paste which was wrapped in black tape in two packets. The total weight of the packets was 433 grams. After removing the tape and other impurities from gold, it weighs 397 grams."
The two accused -- Ankit Sersa and Sachin Chaudhary had been in the custody of the Delhi Police in an arms case. Chief metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria granted their transit remand to the Mansa Police SIT team that is probing the murder of Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala.
Mann said most of the time they had to run pillar to post for getting their work done. The Chief Minister said this dedicated cell will be a single-window platform for the persons with disabilities to avail the benefits of these schemes.
Patna Police have arrested Athar Parvez and Mohammed Jalaluddin -- a retired sub-inspector from Jharkhand -- from the Phulwari Sharif area. Later, three more individuals -- Margoob Danish, Arman Malik and Shabbir -- were arrested.
