Gold, silver of Rs 5 cr seized from a bus in Andhra

Amaravati, March 6 Andhra Pradesh police recovered gold, silver and cash valued at Rs 5 crore from five passengers travelling by a private bus during the early hours of Sunday.

While checking a bus in Kurnool district, the personnel of Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) recovered 8.250 kg gold, 28.5 kg silver and cash from the passengers who hailed from Tamil Nadu.

The bus was on its way to Coimbatore from Hyderabad, when the five men were found to be illegally transporting the precious metals during vehicle checking at Panchalingala check post on Andhra-Telangana border.

According to SEB, 8.250 kg gold valued at Rs 3.96 crore, 28.5 kg silver valued at Rs 18.52 lakh and Rs 90 lakh cash was seized from them.

The passengers had concealed cash under their seats and gold biscuits in their inner clothing. Since they could not produce GST, e-way bills and travelling vouchers for the valuables, police seized the items.

The five men detained by the police were identified as Devaraju, Selvaraju, Kumara Velu, Murugesan and Venkatesh.

The SEB handed over the detained men and the seized valuables to local police.

A case has been registered and further investigation is underway, an official said.

The inter-state border checkpost is considered a centre for illegal transportation of goods and black money. According SEB, liquid gold, jewellery, diamonds, cash and other articles are often transported this this route. In June last year, the police had seized gold ornaments worth Rs 1.08 crore.