Chennai: Flying squad seizes 172 kg gold worth Rs 56 crore, cash Rs 76 lakh
Chennai: The election officials and police seized gold weighing 172 kg worth Rs 56 crore from a mini van on Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border in Arapakkam on Tuesday night.
Disclosing the seizure to the media, the officials said that they have been conducting vehicle checks across the district to track the movement of cash, gift items meant for distribution to voters.
Officials said that the gold had been transported from Tada in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai. The transportation was in violation of the model code of conduct as the election officials were not informed about such a huge consignment. There were no proper documents against the metal being transported. The vehicle along with the gold seized was sent to the Gummudipoondi taluk treasury.
Election officials have asked the occupants to submit documents against the gold. Meanwhile, officials also informed the income tax sleuths about the seizure.
Similarly, gold weighing 2.3 kg was seized by the railway police from a Kerala passenger waiting at the Central railway station to board a train to Kerala. Police identified the arrested as Benny( 51) from Alappuzha in Kerala.
According to police sources, based on the specific information that the gold was being smuggled at the station, the government railway police checked the baggage of Benny waiting at the Central railway station to board Alleppey Express at around 9 pm
On searching his baggage police found `2.3 kg of gold which he was planning to smuggled to Thrissur. He was taken into police custody as he did not produce proper documents for the gold. Further investigations are underway.
An officer said the squad while conducting a vehicle check on old GST Road in Pallavaram, intercepted a car and found `75 lakh in cash, which was transported without supporting documents.
The occupants of the car claimed that they were carrying the money to fill some Private bank ATMs in the city. However, they were not able to produce valid supporting documents which led to the seizure. The amount was handed over to the PallavaramTaluk government treasury and the occupants have been advised to produce relevant documents to get back the sum. They were handed over to the Pallavaram police and further probe is on. . Similarly, a flying squad headed by Thasildar Kalyani when conducting a vehicle checkup near Pallavaram -Kundrathur road on Tuesday night at around 9 pm, intercepted a bike. Ritheesh, 23 of T.Nagar, a security guard at a private company was seized off `1.75 lakh. When questioned about the cash, he claimed that he was transferring the cash to his owner in Kundrathur and failed to provide the documents, The cash was handed over to the Pallavaram Taluk government treasury.
