The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a person in connection with the alleged diversion of gold jewellery weighing about 250 kg, which was meant for exports. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had earlier probed the case.
The accused has been identified as Preet Kumar Agarwal. He was arrested following ED searches at five locations in Hyderabad.
According to the agency, the gold was procured duty free by the accused persons from the nominated agencies like MMTC, State Trading Corporation of India Limited and Diamond India Limited. It was being sold illegally to various persons in the domestic territory to evade Customs duty and also to generate and launder huge proceeds of crime, it said.
The DRI, which during its own probe found that about 250 kg of gold had been diverted and smuggled, had filed a chargesheet against those involved under the Customs Act.
During the searches, the ED found evidence indicating large scale “hawala” transactions carried out by the accused persons. They also acquired properties in the name of other persons to evade detection.
