Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: A total of 1.2-crore sticks of foreign-origin cigarettes, having an estimated market value of about Rs 24 crore, have been seized by DRI, and five persons, including the importer, were arrested, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of Mumbai branch said on Sunday.
Based on specific intelligence, DRI-Mumbai identified a container suspected of carrying contraband at Nhava Sheva Port. The container was supposed to be trans-shipped to Arshiya Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) for further clearance.
DRI said the discrete vigil was kept on the movement of the said container by the officers of DRI. It was found that, after the container left the port, instead of reaching its destination, the same was diverted to a private godown while it was en route to Arshiya FTWZ.
Officers monitoring the movement of the said container immediately sensed the suspicious activities and intercepted the container at the godown, according to DRI. The entire 40 feet container was found to be stuffed with foreign-origin cigarettes which are banned for import into India due to their non-compliance with Indian standards.
The syndicate had planned to smuggle those cigarettes by way of removing them from the container and replacing the same with goods declared in import documents in order to hoodwink Customs authorities, DRI said in a statement released on Sunday.
The godown was already stocked with the declared goods which were supposed to be stuffed in the container after removing the cigarettes before the container was taken into Arshiya FTZ. The case is still being investigated, the DRI statement said.
The agency has been constantly engaged in busting such designs of smuggling syndicates smuggling contrabands, and misusing SEZ and Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) schemes, thereby protecting government revenue and also protecting society from the harmful effects of illicit tobacco, it added.
