Officials of the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Vijayawada, busted foreign currency and gold smuggling racket, which has links to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
On a tip-off, the Customs officials took a worker of a Narsapur-based gold shop, who was carrying foreign currency, worth about ₹13.10 lakh, and gold of Dubai and Sri Lanka origin, valued at about ₹55.34 lakh, said Customs Commissioner Sadhu Narasimha Reddy.
The accused was travelling in a bus from Vijayawada to Nellore, and was arrested at Kaza toll gate on October 18. He was travelling to Chennai to purchase gold in exchange of the foreign currency.
The seizure include $4,250, and also currency of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, and 940.46 grams of foreign origin gold, said the Customs officials in a release on Friday.
Based on his confession, the Customs Division, Kakinada, conducted searches in a gold shop and the trader’s house at Narsapuram in West Godavari district on October 19, and seized the foreign gold.
During inquiry, it was observed that the foreign markings on some of the gold pieces were deliberately erased to camouflage the smuggled nature of the yellow metal.
“Smugglers were melting and removing the foreign marks on the gold before being sold to the retail merchants,” Mr. Narasimha Reddy said.
A detailed investigation is on, the Customs Commissioner said.
