Kolkata, Feb 9 (IANS): The customs department seized over 19 kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 6.5 crore from a city-based gold workshop and arrested three persons, a senior official said here on Saturday.

Acting on a tip off, officials from the preventive and intelligence section of the customs department conducted a raid at a gold workshop in Nalin Sarkar Street, Burrabazar area, on Friday and seized the gold.

"A total of 120 gold biscuits, weighing 116 grams each, and two gold bars, weighing one kg each, were seized from a workshop. The worth of the seized gold is Rs 6.57 crore," said Deep Sekhar, Customs Commissioner (preventive).

All biscuits carried foreign manufacturers' hallmark, he said and added three persons have been arrested.

According to the official, the gold biscuits that originated in West Asia had been brought to India through Bangladesh.

"The biscuits were brought to the workshop for melting. In India, such smuggled gold biscuits are melted to make one kilogram bars and then shipped to other destinations,: the official said. These kind of work is done at . There are many shops in the area, he added.

The official said, over 80 kg of smuggled gold have been recovered from Kolkata in the last one year.