Vijayawada: Railway, Durga temple staff hand in glove with gold smugglers

Vijayawada: A gang involved in gold smuggling in Vijayawada for some time was nabbed by the city police. The accused were brought to Suryaraopet police station for questioning. According to information the Task Force, Vigilance and Enforcement officials are investigating the case.

The sources informed that these three member gang bring gold biscuits from Saudi Arabia to India via Qatar and Singapore illegally through air and waterways. The gang sells the Rs 5 lakh worth gold biscuits for Rs 4 lakh only and the whole activity continues clandestinely. The police during the course of investigation learned that the gang had been operating in gold trading activities since 2018.

A Railway employee Akula Raghavendra Rao was among the three accused in the gold smuggling activities. He is associated with sports organisations. Railway and Durga temple employees paid huge amounts to the three member gang for gold biscuits. It is learnt that about 20 Railways employees paid Rs 6 crore to the smugglers to get gold biscuits at low price. Around 12 employees of Durga temple paid around Rs 1.5 crore. The victims are not coming forward to lodge complaint to the police since it is illegal business.

But, one of the three accused had approached the police for help as she felt that she was cheated by two others.