A whopping 31.5 kg smuggled gold worth ₹13.3 crore was seized and 12 people arrested by sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, in the last two days. The contraband was being smuggled to Warangal and Hyderabad from Chennai in trains and buses and the accused were intercepted by the DRI officials of Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Nellore zones.
According to the officials, the first case was detected on Saturday by the Nellore unit, who intercepted three passengers travelling to Warangal from Chennai in Jaipur Superfast Express at Vijayawada railway station. They were carrying 7.22 kg gold concealed in bags. “The accused confessed that they purchased the gold bars from Chennai and were travelling back to Warangal to hand over the contraband to the kingpin,” officials said.
In the second case, three more people smuggling 7 kg gold in GT Express from Chennai to Warangal were nabbed at Vijayawada railway station in the wee hours of Saturday.
The accused were taking the gold to Warangal after purchasing it in Chennai.
In another case, three persons, who were trying to smuggle 6.47 kg gold to Warangal, were arrested at Kanakadurga Varadhi bus stop in Vijayawada on Saturday evening.
The arrested passengers told DRI officials that they boarded a train at Chennai, but had to get off at Kavali railway station and from there had to board a bus to Ongole. “Thereafter, they got on a bus to Guntur, and subsequently a bus from Guntur to Warangal via Vijayawada,” they said, adding that the contraband was concealed in clothes.
It is suspected that in all the three cases, the accused were working for a kingpin in Warangal on whose instructions they purchased gold from the grey market in Chennai.
Meanwhile, the Hyderabad unit of DRI intercepted three passengers from Secunderabad railway station on Sunday morning. They arrived by the Chennai-Hyderabad Superfast Express and were carrying 10.70 kg gold worth ₹4.53 crore. “The passengers confessed that they have procured the gold from a grey market in Chennai and were supposed to deliver it in Hyderabad,” an officer said.
A case under Customs Act 1962 was booked against all the 12 accused.