After 10 months of lookout, the Special Operations Group (SOG) nabbed Baldev alias Parth Shama, the mastermind of international gold smuggling in Surat on Mar 2.
He had reached Nepal from Dubai to Surat to surrender to the court, but was caught by the SOG before he could reach the court.
The SOG will produce him for remand today and have also informed the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) about his arrest.
As per the details received by SOG sources, Fenil Rajesh Mavani, Nirav Ramnik Davria, Umesh alias Lakh Ramesh Bhikaria, and Sawan Shantilal Kharlia were arrested by Surat City SOG on Apr 29, 2023, along with ₹4.29 crore worth of gold paste, hidden in underwear and footwear from Dubai.
The SOG then also arrested the gold smuggler Vishal alias Vicky Dhirubhai Gabani. SOG’s investigation revealed that the mastermind of the international gold smuggling was Baldev alias Parth Sharma, who was running the racket based in Dubai.
When the gold was caught, Baldev fled to Dubai to avoid the arrest.
Meanwhile, the SOG, acting on a tip-off, nabbed him on Mar 2 before he could reach the court to surrender.
In the preliminary interrogation, he said that he had reached Nepal by air from Dubai and was heading to Surat to surrender.
The inquiry of Parth Sharma is likely to lead to more people being involved in this scam.