Army officer, SDPO among 5 held in gold smuggling case

An Army intelligence officer and an SDPO were among five uniformed personnel arrested Saturday in this district of West Bengal in connection with alleged gold smuggling from Bhutan, police said.

The arrested included intelligence officer of Hasimara Army Camp Lt Col Pawan Brahma and Jaigaon Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Aniruddh Thakur, they said.

It is alleged that the five were involved in taking away 15 kg of gold being smuggled in a vehicle carrying a large quantity of the precious metal from Bhutan. They had intercepted the vehicle at the Hasimara area on September 10.

The three other persons arrested in the case were sub-inspectors of Hasimara and Barovisa police outposts Satyendranath Roy and Kamalendu Narayan and Army intelligence constable Dasarath Singh.

The five were charged under various IPC sections, including 202 (intentional omission to give information of offense by person bound to inform) and 213 (taking a gift to screen an offender), police said.

The arrests were made after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed unhappiness over smuggling in border areas Friday, sources said. PTI CORR NN AQS