Diamonds and jewellery worth Rs 24 crore seized from car in Ahilyanagar

Mumbai, Nov 2 (PTI) The Static Surveillance Team (SST) of the Election Commission has seized diamonds, gold and silver jewellery costing around Rs 24 crore near a toll booth in Ahilyanagar district of poll-bound Maharashtra, an official said on Saturday.

The seizure was made on Thursday morning near the Supa toll plaza, he said.

SSTs have been deployed across Maharashtra in view of the November 20 assembly elections.

"The consignment of diamonds, gold and silver jewellery was recovered from a vehicle in which three persons were travelling. The trio had begun their journey from Zaveri Bazar in south Mumbai," Supa police station's inspector Arun Avhad said.

The SST team asked them to show the receipt. They did show some receipts, but the amounts mentioned on them did not tally, he said.

After this, the SST seized the jewellery and reported the matter to the Income Tax Department, the official said.

The three persons told the investigators that the jewellery was meant to be delivered in different parts of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ahilyanagar and Jalgaon districts, he said.

On Thursday, an SST team and police personnel seized foreign currency notes worth Rs 10.8 crore from a car at Marine Drive in south Mumbai. PTI ZA NP