Mumbai: The DRI on Monday arrested Khalil Surve, kingpin of the gold smuggling racket who was operating from Saudi Arabia using Umrah pilgrims as unwitting carriers. His name had cropped up in February, when the DRI busted a gold smuggling syndicate and seized 4kgs of gold worth Rs 3.47 crore.Surve was arrested on Monday, and was remanded to judicial custody. He is alleged to have taken delivery of smuggled gold from other syndicate members and ensured its onward movement within India.The case dates back to Feb 21, when officers intercepted four Indian nationals — Alamgir Badshah, Akbar Khan, Rehana Alamgir Khan and Firdos Khan—after their arrival at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from Jeddah. The passengers were intercepted after crossing the green channel, while Fahad Yarker and Adil Aziz Sikander were found waiting in the arrival hall to receive them. During personal searches, officers recovered 3,900 grams of 24-carat foreign-origin gold worth Rs 3.47 crore.Separate WhatsApp groups were created for each consignment to coordinate operations. Every member updated their activity via text and voice messages so that Ghawte could monitor the syndicate’s movements.
