The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in Mumbai reported on Sunday that it has apprehended five people, including an importer, for attempting to smuggle 1.2 crore sticks of cigarettes of foreign origin, with an estimated market value of 24 crores. The agency informed that these cigarettes are prohibited because they do not meet the country’s prerequisite standards.
The items were taken from a container after an intelligence input. The shipment was intended to be trans-shipped to Arshiya Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) for further clearance.
Based on specific intelligence, DRI Mumbai identified a container suspected of carrying contraband, at Nhava Sheva Port. A total of 1.07 crores sticks of foreign-origin cigarettes having an estimated market value of about Rs 24 Cr were recovered from the container. Five persons… pic.twitter.com/z1Xubq7PVk
— ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2023
The officials kept an eye on the container’s movement after getting the intelligence. It was discovered that the container, which had departed Navi Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva Port on its way to Arshiya FTWZ, had been rerouted to a private godown where it was subsequently seized by DRI officials.
The entire 40-foot container was discovered to be filled with foreign cigarettes of multiple brands which are not allowed to be imported in India.
The syndicate intended to deceive customs officers by taking the cigarettes out of the container and replacing them with commodities listed on import documents. Before the container was carried into Arshiya FTWZ, the godown was already packed with the stated goods that were meant to be placed inside once the cigarettes had been moved out.
In an immediate follow-up operation, another cache of 13 lakh foreign-origin cigarettes that had previously been smuggled by the same network was found in another godown.
