The authorities were working on a tip-off about the possible smuggling of gold from Sri Lanka to one of the fisherman hamlets in Rameswaram.
In a joint operation at the Mandapam shore in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Coast Guard along with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of the Customs Department seized a gold consignment of 17.74 kg on Thursday, 9 February.
The consignment, which is said to be worth ₹10.5 crore, was apparently dumped into the sea off the Tamil Nadu coast by the smugglers.
According to sources, the DRI officials got a tip-off on Tuesday about the possible smuggling of gold from Sri Lanka to one of the fisherman hamlets in Rameswaram.
Based on the information, the DRI officials and the Coast Guard intensified their vigilance on the high seas from Tuesday evening.
In the early hours of Wednesday, a Coast Guard patrol came across a high-speed country boat approaching the Mandapam shores.
Despite warning from the Coast Guard commandos, the boat refused to halt.
After chasing for nearly three nautical miles, the Coast Guard vehicles intercepted the boat and secured three persons, including one Nagoor Meeran, a resident of Mandapam. They were taken to the Coast Guard station for interrogation.
During the chase, the patrol officials spotted the persons in the boat throwing a package into the sea.
Initially, during the interrogation, the detained persons denied throwing anything into the sea. Later, they tried to mislead the officials by saying that they were throwing fishing nets into the sea.
Growing suspicious over the contrasting statements, the officials decided to search around the area where the suspects were apprehended.
With the help of GPRS, the DRI and Coast Guard officials developed a search area with a radius of one nautical mile.
Deep sea divers were called in from Thoothukudi and scuba divers from the Coast Guard were pressed into action.
The search operation started on Wednesday evening and continued into Thursday. After nearly 18 hours, the divers recovered 14 parcels dumped into the deep sea.
All the parcels were sealed and wrapped in plastic containers. They were brought to the Coast Guard headquarters at Mandapam and unsealed.
The officials found that the gold bars, strings, and chains weighed nearly 17.74 kg and were worth Rs 10.5 crore. The recovered gold was handed over to the DRI officials.
The officials intensified the interrogation of the three detained persons and found that the gold was being smuggled to Vedhalai, a coastal village near Rameswaram.
A team of DRI was formed to track down and dismantle the smugglers’ network.
According to the Coast Guard officials, the detained persons were arrested and would be handed over to the local police, who would produce them in the court of a judicial magistrate.
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