Hyderabad: Gold merchants throw safety norms to wind

HYDERABAD: Gold merchants in the city are throwing caution to the wind by making and transporting large quantities of gold ornaments without any security measures.

Two recent incidents have brought this blatant flouting security norms to light. Earlier this month, the Chandra-yangutta police caught two employees of a jewellery shop transporting 15 kg of gold in an auto-rickshaw. The employees had been given the gold ornaments by the owner of the jewellery shop to be sold in Chennai and Bengaluru. 

In the other incident,  a 12-member gang looted about five kg of gold from a gold ornament-making unit in Petlaburj in the Old City. While the police are trying to track down the offenders, questions are being raised regarding the security measures implemented by gold merchants. 

There are about 200 gold ornament-making units and they employ close to 2,000 goldsmiths from various parts of the country. At any time, there is between two and 10 kg of gold at every workshop, and there are no security measures. 

“Not a single security guard is employed by the owners of the ornament-making units. Neither are there CCTV cameras. Their shops are located in the narrow lanes at Gulzar Houz, Chelapura, Mitti-ka-Sher and Rika-bgunj in the Old City,” said a police official.

Reportedly, transactions between ornament-making units and traders are carried out without any records or documentation. “Sometimes, differences crop up between the workers and the owners of units, over wages or the breach of trust.

At such times, the workers themselves take away property and are untraceable for months,” said the police official.

Businessmen from other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru also come to the city with large quantities of gold, to conduct business transactions, and they stay in local lodges to save money. 

He said that the police planned to conduct an awareness programme for gold merchants and would be asked to implement adequate security measures.