Vijayawada: Customs officials seize 13.18 kg gold

Vijayawada: The customs commissionerate (Preventive) Vijayawada conducted a massive search operation simultaneously in various parts of Andhra Pradesh and busted a huge cache of smuggled gold coming into the state. During the operation, the officials recovered and seized 13.18 kg gold with a market value of Rs 6.70 crore and unaccounted cash of Rs 4.24 crore suspected to be the proceeds of smuggled gold. The officials arrested four persons in connection with the smuggling of gold.

In a press release on Thursday, the office of the commissioner of customs (Preventive) Vijayawada said about 20 teams with nearly 100 customs officials intercepted carriers of smuggled gold and seized them. The searches were made in Nellore, Eluru, Kakinada, Sullurpet and Chilakaluripet and other areas.

The officials have noticed the smugglers are using different modes of public transport like buses, cars and trains for gold smuggling. Interestingly, the officials seized 5 kg gold from a single person, who was travelling in the APSRTC bus from Chennai and he was nabbed near Sullurupet toll plaza. The officials have seized 13.18 kg gold worth Rs 6.7 crore and unaccounted cash of Rs 4.24 crore. The gold sized included gold with foreign markings as well as those gold whose foreign marks were deliberately erased to try and camouflage the smuggled nature of the gold.

The accused have been remanded to judicial custody. The press release stated that this is the highest ever seizure of smuggled gold and cash reported by customs commissionerate office since its formation in 2014 in Vijayawada.