Tripura: Gold biscuits seized from Narangi Express in Agartala, two held

Two passengers were detained at Agartala railway station after the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Customs found three gold biscuits on them aboard the Narangi Express, officials said on Tuesday.

The joint check took place at around 9.15 pm on Monday, November 9, India Today NE reported. The three biscuits weighed 349.75 grams in all.

Who was held

The two men are residents of Teliamura in Khowai district and of West Agartala, aged 34 and 37, according to the reports. RPF personnel had received intelligence inputs about gold being moved out of Agartala by train and carried out a special checking drive on the Guwahati-bound service.

During preliminary questioning, the pair allegedly told investigators that they had collected the gold from the Motor Stand area of Agartala and were taking it to Jorabat, on the Assam-Meghalaya border near Guwahati, to hand it to an unidentified person. The two men and the gold were handed over to Customs in Agartala.

RPF Assistant Commandant BK Sinha confirmed the seizure to reporters, Tripura Times said.

Value still unclear

Tripura Times put the value of the seizure at over Rs 4.73 crore. That figure does not match the weight: at current market rates, about 350 grams of gold would be worth well under Rs 1 crore. Officials have not released a formal valuation, and NEInsider is not reporting a value until Customs does.

A familiar smuggling route

Tripura shares a long, partly riverine border with Bangladesh, and gold bars smuggled across it are often moved onward by road and rail towards Guwahati. Customs, the BSF and the RPF have reported a series of seizures along this route in recent years, many involving passengers on long-distance trains out of Agartala.

Investigators are now trying to trace the source of the gold, identify the intended recipient in Assam and work out whether a wider network is involved.

NEInsider will update this story when Customs gives the official valuation or makes further arrests.