ED busts Kannada actor Ranya Rao's Rs 102 crore gold smuggling racket inked to Africa-Dubai-India network

ED busts Kannada actor Ranya Rao's Rs 102 crore gold smuggling racket inked to Africa-Dubai-India network

• ED uncovers gold-smuggling racket involving actor Ranya Rao
• Ranya Rao arrested with 14.2 kg gold at Bengaluru airport
• 127.28 kg gold smuggled from Africa and Dubai into India

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A massive international gold-smuggling racket, stretching from Africa to Dubai and into India, has been unearthed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), with Kannada actor Ranya Rao at the centre of the case.

The agency has detailed how the operation functioned as a well-organised network involving foreign sourcing, illegal imports, and domestic distribution.

Ranya Rao, daughter of a senior Karnataka IPS officer, was arrested in March last year at Bengaluru airport shortly after arriving from Dubai. Officials seized 14.2 kg of gold worth over Rs 12.56 crore that had been taped to her body. The arrest raised immediate red flags due to the frequency of her international travel and the scale of the seizure.

According to the ED’s chargesheet, Rao, along with her alleged associate Tarun Konduru and a Bellari-based gold dealer, smuggled a total of 127.28 kg of gold valued at Rs 102.55 crore into India between March 2024 and March 2025. The smuggled gold was then sold in the domestic market through a network of jewellers and handlers.

“Investigation revealed that their smuggling operation was part of an organised international network that started from their attempts to source gold from Africa,” an ED official said. The group had established a Dubai-based entity, Veera Diamonds Trading LLC, in 2023 to facilitate procurement. They sourced gold from African countries including Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, regions known for gold mining.

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However, the operation did not begin smoothly. Sources revealed that Rao and her associates were initially cheated of Rs 2 crore by a Ugandan agent who failed to deliver the promised gold. Following this setback, they shifted their sourcing strategy to Dubai’s Deira Gold Souk, one of the world’s largest gold markets.

“Rao carried large sums of cash to the market to procure the gold while Konduru used to file fraudulent customs declarations claiming that the gold was being shipped from Dubai to a third country,” the official added.

Once procured, the gold was allegedly concealed on Rao’s person and smuggled into India via commercial flights. Investigators found that she made around 15 trips between Dubai and India during the one-year period.

Officials grew suspicious after noticing her repeated travel pattern, particularly when she made four Dubai trips within 15 days. This led to her interception and arrest at Bengaluru airport.

“At Bengaluru airport, she flaunted her connection, saying she is the daughter of a senior IPS officer and bypassed mandatory customs checks,” the official claimed.

The ED has since attached assets worth over Rs 34 crore linked to Rao. The investigation also revealed that the proceeds from the smuggling were laundered through hawala channels and formal banking systems, indicating a deeper financial network behind the operation.