8,500 kg silver bricks worth ₹80 Cr seized from container

Mumbai police seized 8,500 kg of silver worth ₹80 crore at Vashi Toll Naka while checking vehicles, prompting IT and GST verification of documents.

Mumbai: The Zone VI police, Election Commission officials, and other enforcement agencies who were tasked with keeping a strict vigil on transport of cash, jewellery among other things, seized around 8,500 kg of silver on Saturday while checking regular vehicles at Vashi Toll Naka.

8,500 kg silver bricks worth ₹80 Cr seized from container

The Income Tax (IT) department and Goods and Services Tax (GST) department will be verifying the legitimacy of the silver bricks against the bills produced.

According to the Mankhurd police, duirng regular checking of vehicles at Vashi Toll plaza early in the morning, a container was stopped. “While checking the container, several silver bricks were covered with papers inside. The people in the container told us the silver bricks were coming from Chennai and heading to Byculla for jewellery making purpose. We asked them for documents, and they showed us some, but it was not satisfactory,” said a police officer.

The officers weighed them and found that the bricks were around 8.5 tonnes, worth ₹80 crore. “We have informed the IT department and the GST department, who are in better position to verify the bills and documents that we were shown,” the police officer added.

Previously on November 9, the Vikhroli police had seized silver bricks worth ₹65 crore around 6.5 tonnes from a van travelling north bound on Eastern Express Highway. The people in that van told that the bricks were being transported from Byculla to Mulund. The IT department officials are inquiring into it too, said the police officer. Similarly, on November 8, the Wadala police had seized gold balls worth ₹1.11 crore from an electrician who was carrying them from Dongri to deliver at Andheri. The gold balls made of gold dust powder, with1,487g of gold in them, had also come from Chennai, said the officer.