Cigarettes found hidden in modified car compartments at Woodlands Checkpoint
SINGAPORE: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers uncovered three separate attempts to smuggle contraband cigarettes into Singapore during the last two weeks of the year.
In total, more than 600 cartons and 1,600 packets of cigarettes were seized by officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint.
Last week, two smuggling attempts were foiled when officers discovered 556 cartons and 1,458 packets of cigarettes in various modified compartments of two Malaysia-registered cars, ICA said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Dec 31). In the first case on Dec 29, officers found an assortment of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden within the modified dashboard, floorboard, fuel tank and rear bumper of the vehicle
On Dec 27, more contraband cigarettes were confiscated after officers found the items stashed within the front and rear bumpers, modified dashboard, gear compartment and side panels of another car.
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Cigarette smuggling costs Vietnam hundreds of millions of dollars
Vietnam loses tens of trillions of dong (VND10 trillion = $432 million) a year due to cigarette smuggling, a long-standing problem.
Nguyen Triet, General Secretary of Vietnam Tobacco Association, estimates that just one percent of smuggled cigarettes are caught.
The value of smuggled cigarettes accounts for up to 25 percent of the market each year, he said.
In the last five years, an average of 700 million packs of cigarettes a year have passed through Vietnam’s borders with China, Laos and Cambodia.
Long An Province in the Mekong Delta remains a “hot” location for cigarette smuggling, officials say. Almost 900 cases have been discovered in the first 10 months this year and 1.57 million cigarette packs confiscated, according to the National Steering Committee on Combating Smuggling, Commercial Fraud and Counterfeit Goods.
Pham Duc Chinh, Head of Long An Province’s Market Surveillance Department, said that because the province’s border with Cambodia was very porous, controlling smuggling is difficult.
Lear More9 Turkmenistan Women Arrested For Smuggling At Delhi Airport: Police
New Delhi: In a major operation, nine women from Turkmenistan were arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle out of the country foreign currencies worth around Rs 3.83 crore at Delhi airport, officials said on Monday.
A total of 105 people were intercepted — 59 women and 46 men — when they were travelling to Turkmenistan on Wednesday, they said.
“Personal and baggage search of the 88 passengers and rummaging of flight resulted in the recovery of foreign currency $7,98,840 equivalent to Rs 5.64 crore,” a statement issued by the customs department said. Further, 48 passengers were released along with their foreign currency, as they were carrying foreign currency under permissible limit, it said.
Furthermore, remaining foreign currency — $5,41,961, equivalent to Rs 3.83 crore was seized under the relevant provisions of the Customs Act, the statement said. Out of the remaining 40 passengers, nine of them — all women were placed under arrest, the officials said, quoting the statement.
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Gold, foreign currency worth Rs 97 lakh seized at Chennai International Airport
Chennai: In a major crackdown against smuggling from foreign shores, authorities at Chennai International Airport in Tamil Nadu seized gold and foreign currency on Thursday and Friday. The total value of the seized gold and foreign currency was estimated at Rs 97 lakh.
The total value of the seized gold was estimated to be Rs 51 lakh, while US dollars were valued at 46 lakh. The foreign currency was recovered during a search of all the accused.
The seizure was made following a tipoff to authorities about the smuggling racket. Police have also arrested four persons-44-year-old Niraikulathan, 32-year-old Nithyanandan 28-year-old Nishantha Kumar and 27-year-old Murugandham in connection with the seizure.
According to a report in Times of India, all the accused are native of Chennai. They were arrested as they waited to board AirAsia flight to Thailand capital Bangkok on Thursday.
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Mumbai: Man held for ‘smuggling’ gold worth Rs 1.35 crore
The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the airport customs arrested a businessman for allegedly attempting to smuggle gold jewellery worth Rs 1.35 crore.
Officials said the accused, Gaurav Dilip More, was caught on Wednesday after he landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport from Dubai.
“We had information about him, on the basis of which we stopped him at the airport,” an officer of the AIU said. “When we checked his handbag, we found a 24 KT (karat) crude gold chain with a purity of 99.9, weighing 3,377 grams, along with 18 KT assorted gold jewellery, weighing 768.78 grams.”
More’s statement was recorded under section 18 of Customs Act 1962, in which he confessed to smuggling and said the recovered goods were intended to be brought into the country to evade payment of Customs duty, the officer added.
Lear MoreCigarette smuggling operation brought 28 million smokes into NZ
A businessman has admitted smuggling an estimated 28 million cigarettes into Auckland and avoiding excise duties of over $25 million.
The man and his company have interim name suppression and pleaded guilty on Monday to defrauding customs, making erroneous entries in customs documents and selling goods without paying duties.
He’s facing a jail sentence and chose to go straight into the cells at the Auckland District Court to begin serving his time, rather than seeking bail ahead of sentencing in March.
Over an 18 month period, Customs estimates the man sold $6.4 million worth of cigarettes to four major buyers.
That one phone call began the largest cigarette-related investigation run by New Zealand Customs to date. The caller identified a Chinese man who had a large amount of cigarettes for sale.
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Kolkata: DRI busts Indo-Bangladesh gold smuggling racket
KOLKATA: Tracking trails of a crackdown on a gold smuggling racket earlier this month, the DRI arrested a jeweller from Bowbazar and seized gold biscuits, silver coins and unaccounted cash worth a total of Rs 4.71 crore. The jeweller, who was one of the key operators of an Indo-Bangladesh gold smuggling racket, was also arrested.
The agency on December 10 busted a gold smuggling racket active across India and Bangladesh. Interrogation of the arrested persons led the DRI sleuths to some more leads about smugglers linked to the racket. It reached a jeweller’s shop and started conducting searches. The DRI seized 9.33 kg gold biscuits, 500 gram gold coins, 135.5 kg silver coins and 49.93 kg silver granules. Apart from that, unaccounted cash worth Rs 2.77 crore was also seized.
During interrogation, the jeweller confessed to having procured the gold from smugglers in Bangladesh. DRI officials found that the jeweller was closely involved with a supplier who was arrested from Sinthi area in Kolkata earlier this month. To hide the origin of the smuggled gold, they even tried to deface the markings on the metal.
Lear MoreRs 80L gold smuggling: Police officer in custody
Thiruvananthapuram: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) took a police officer into custody on Monday in connection with Rs 80-lakh worth gold smuggling case at Trivandrum International Airport.
The police officer attached to Vanchiyoor police station and a woman passenger who arrived from Dubai were interrogated by DRI.
They arrived in Thiruvananthapuram in Emirates airlines flight EK 522 from Dubai around 3.10am on Monday.
Based on a piece of information that gold is being smuggled by the flight, DRI officers searched the flight and recovered the yellow metal under a seat. The gold was in the form of biscuits and weighed two kilograms.
On assessing the information of the passenger who had travelled in the seat the identity of the woman was revealed. The woman passenger and her accomplice, the police officer, were then taken into custody.
“We are questioning the passengers. They said they didn’t carry any gold. We are inquiring about their claims and previous travel record. The flight shuttles between Thiruvananthapuram and Dubai and they are likely to be carriers,” said a DRI officer.
Lear MoreFICCI CASCADE for status quo on GST rate on tobacco products to check smuggling
Ahead of crucial GST Council meet on Wednesday, industry body FICCI’s arm made a case for maintaining GST rate on tobacco products at present level saying any increase would lead to rise in smuggling and will adversely impact domestic industry.
Currently, GST rate on these products are 28 per cent while cess varies between 61 to 204 per cent.
FICCI CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) said various agencies seized illicit cigarette worth about Rs 18 crore so far this year. It said that there has been spurt in smuggling due to increase in tax in the past few years. The illegal cigarette trade has more than doubled from 12.5 billion sticks in 2005 to 26.5 billion sticks in 2018.
Lear More2 held at airport with foreign currency worth Rs 26 lakh
KOCHI: The Customs Air Intelligence Unit at Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) on Thursday intercepted two persons in separate incidents of suspected foreign currency smuggling. Customs officers seized foreign currency worth `26 lakh from two persons. One of them is a Swiss national. Both the incidents took place at the international departure area of the airport in the wee hours of Thursday. In the first incident, a Swiss national and machinery expert, who was to board a flight to Dubai, was intercepted by the agency.
“Euro notes worth around `16 lakh were found in his possession. He admitted that he frequently visits a factory in Coimbatore. He was not aware of Indian customs norms against carrying foreign currency beyond a certain limit,” a Customs officer said.
It was found that the Swiss national had visited Coimbatore more than 50 times in recent years. Later, he was slapped with a fine and the currency was returned to him. In the second incident, a Thiruvananthapuram native was booked for possessing $28,500 while boarding a flight to Dubai.
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