New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANS): In one of the largest haul this year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers at the national capital's foreign post office have seized a consignment of 56 functioning electric current metres from Hong Kong, made from gold and silver, and cleverly concealed beneath a coat of black paint, an official said.

According to DRI, an intelligence was developed and seven consignments of "Electric Current/Potential Metres" declared as "Current Guiaor Machine" were intercepted, which had arrived from Hong Kong at the foreign post office.

Upon examination, the said electric metres were found to be functional, having genuine populated circuit boards.

"However, on preliminary examination, these appeared to be unusually heavy. The outer covers of these 56 electric metres were painted black. On scratching the black paint of these covers, white-colour metal was noticed, similar to steel," said a senior DRI official.

An analysis by spectrometer revealed that these covers were made of an alloy of "gold and silver," in the ratio of 30:70.

The official added that a total of 56 electric metres were imported in these eight consignments and they contained 16.67 kg gold and 39.73 kg silver, having market value worth Rs 10.66 crore.

From the initial investigation, it appears that a well-organised syndicate was involved in the smuggling of gold.

"They used to alloy the gold with silver to change its colour from yellow to white. This white-coloured alloy was used to manufacture the cover of electric metres and it was painted black to avoid any suspicion," said the official