Possible terror subtext in recent Gujarat drug busts
Rising pressure on drug traffickers to push surplus opium production in Afganistan — processed into heroin in Pakistan — via sea route.
At least two seizures of heroin — 100 and 200 kg each — since the beginning of this year and a few smaller tranches later have put the security agencies on high alert in Gujarat. The estimated market price of 300 kg of heroin could be anything between Rs 1,200 crore and Rs 1500 crore
While the 1600-km long coastline of Gujarat had always been exploited by the smugglers in the past, the current haul indicates a more sinister geopolitical development, that has not only prompted the state anti-terror apparatus and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to move in, but ET has reliably learnt it has attracted the attention of the US investigative agencies as well.
A senior official in one of the agencies now monitoring the developments maintained on the condition of anonymity that with huge surplus production of opium in Afganistan, which is processed into heroin in Pakistan, there is a growing pressure on the narco traders to increase their supply through the sea route.
“While LoC remains too hot for such adventures, the vigil along the international border in Punjab and Rajasthan has also been heightened, leaving the sea route as the preferred zone for the smugglers,” said the official. He also said that with the Combined Task Force-150 (a multinational coalition of naval task force) maintaining a strong vigil over the Strait of Hormuz, Gujarat coast becomes an obvious choice for the Af-Pak narco-traffickers.
In the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from Afganistan coupled with Pakistan’s enhanced belligerence over Kashmir, observers feel that the traffic would only increase in the days to come as the narco-economy is the principal feeder for terror groups operating in the Af-Pak region.
The use of Gujarat coastline as part of the transit route for the contraband has also raised concern among the agencies because if the terror network is being rebuilt, it can be exploited to push in arms and explosives into the country.
Lear MoreFake spare parts’ growth beats auto sales.
CHENNAI: The Rs 22,000-crore counterfeit auto parts industry — growing faster than car and bike sales, and which doubled in the last five years — is giving headaches to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). They are now hoping that the draft rules to eradicate spurious spares, which were notified in July, will get operational soon.
According to the Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA), the overall counterfeit product industry in India is worth Rs 1 lakh crore, causing the government tax losses of Rs 40,000 crore. While fake products are common in agriculture (fertilisers and pesticides) or even FMCG, they are life-threatening in the automotive and pharmaceutical industry, said ASPA president Nakul Pasricha.
“Counterfeiting is a huge problem in the auto parts after-market segment,” said Pasricha. “The total auto after-market in 2018-19 grew by 9.6% to Rs 67,491 crore ($10 billion) from Rs 61,601 crore ($9 billion) in the previous fiscal. Counterfeit auto components account for 30-40% of the overall after-market for components in retail outlets.”
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https://www.novagraaf.com/en/insights/your-anti-counterfeiting-strategy-scratch
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Couple caught with undeclared foreign currency worth Rs1 crore at Mumbai airport.
The couple were caught with USD worth Rs 20.34 lakh and UK Pounds worth Rs 80.76 lakh. AIU suspects that the couple was part of a professional smuggling racket.
The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) on Tuesday intercepted an Indian couple, who were flying to Bangkok, with undeclared foreign currency worth Rs 1 crore at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
Nagpada residents Rayyan Thakur, 29, and his wife Afren Thakur, 28, were caught with US Dollars worth Rs 20.34 lakh and UK Pounds worth Rs 80.76 lakh. AIU suspects that the couple was part of a professional smuggling racket.
The couple, currently in judicial custody, has been charged under relevant sections of the Customs Act; Passport Act; Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999; and Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import Currency) regulation 2000.
“The foreign currencies had been concealed with thick plastic covers over the trolley bags’ base. During interrogation, they told officers that they had collected the bag from one Adnan Shaikh in Bhendi Bazaar. Shaikh allegedly told them that the bag would be collected by a man in Bangkok. They were to be given Rs 12,000 for this exchange,” said an AIU official.
Lear MoreFICCI CASCADE Inter-School Competition on ZERO Evasion – ‘Fight Against Counterfeiting and Smuggling, New Delhi
07/08/2019| New Delhi
With the unrelenting growth of illicit trade through counterfeiting and smuggling, FICCI CASCADE has been continuously campaigning against these activities. However, as the problem of counterfeiting and smuggling has led to more financial, economic and social crisis, it is our continuous endeavour to revisit, rethink and test new approaches in addressing this socio-economic challenge.
India has a young population profile and is set to be the youngest country by 2020. The youth of India being the country’s future, it becomes imperative to understand the power tomorrow’s consumers. With youngsters becoming a key stakeholder for advocating socially responsible behaviour, FICCI CASCADE believes that it is important to bring them on board the awareness campaign and through them influence the society as a whole. We believe that an idea planted in their minds can become an instrument of change.
FICCI CASCADE has initiated a youth movement across the country to spread awareness among the young minds and seek their support to underpin the fight against counterfeiting and smuggling. Such a campaign has offered an opportunity to bring in more people, particularly youngsters to push forward its actions to curb the ensuing menace.
In order to pick the brains of the young school children and inspire the youth to take required actions to discourage and stop the purchase of fake, spurious and smuggled goods, FICCI CASCADE organised an Interschool Meet on the subject, where over 350 students from 50 leading schools from Delhi and NCR and few from other states as well competed against each other in three categories of competitions, namely, Painting, Elocution and Creative Writing, on the theme “Zero- Evasion: Fight Counterfeiting and Smuggling” on 6th August 2019 in FICCI, New Delhi. The programme was also supported by FICCI ARISE (Alliance for re-imagining School Education).
The contest witnessed enthusiastic and active participation from students, most of whom were very impressive in expressing their concern on the need to curb such illegal trade practices. The competitions provided a unique platform to the young minds to express their views through their oratory and creative talent on diverse themes like “Young India Says No to Counterfeiting and Smuggling”, “Terrorism Financing through Smuggling”, “India: A Victim of Smuggling”, “India’s Brand Integrity at Stake due to Counterfeiting and Smuggling” etc.
The competitions were judged by Mr. P. K Malhotra, Former Secretary of Law and Justice, Govt. of India, Mr. Sanjeev Tripathi, Former Chief of RAW, Mr. Hem Pande, Former Secretary, Consumer Affairs, GOI, Mr. Deep Chand, Former Special Commissioner of Police, New Delhi and Mr. P. C. Jha, Advisor, FICCI CASCADE & Former Special Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC),
The winners in the competitions were as follows:
| # | Name of the Competition | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Consolation |
| 1 | Elocution Competition | Mannat Arora
Class XII-C Blue Bells Model School, Gurgaon
|
Khyati Pareek
Class: XII-E School: Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh
|
Vidhi Bisht
Class: XII School: Nehru World School
Bhavya Pokhriyal Class: XII School: Queen’s Valley School, Dwarka
|
|
| 2 | Painting Competition | Supriya Baital
Class: X-C School: Birla Vidya Niketan, Pushpa Vihar
|
Vismit Kaur
Class: XI-D School: Spingdales School, Pusa Road
Shreyas Class: IX-D School: St. Columba’s School, Ashok Place
|
Pranav Sharma
Class: IX-A School: Don Bosco School Alaknanda
Pratishtha Dinkar Class: X-A School: Arvind Gupta DAV Centenary Public School
Shreya Mishra Class: XII School: The Future Kids School Hyderabad |
|
| 3 | Creative Writing Competition | Devanshi Yadav
School: Ryan International School, Vasant kunj
|
Bhumika Aggarwal
Class: X School: Mount Abu Public School, Rohini
|
Arunima Mehta
Class: XII-C School: Lilawati Vidhya Mandir Sr. Sec School, Shakti Nagar
Anuushka Sharan
School: Laxman Public School, Hauzkhas
|
Navdha
Class: XI-A School: Darbari Lal DAV Model School, Shalimar Bagh
|
Through the competitions not only did all witness the skills and creative abilities of the school children, but also visible was the passion in them to bring about a change in the society by shunning fake products and saying no to smuggled goods.
To reiterate, awareness generation is extremely crucial in bringing change in attitudes from considering counterfeiting and smuggling activities as victimless crime to the realization that it entails grave risks, both social and economic. A pro-active and preventative approach and strategy is the need of the hour to curb the twin menace. Several steps are being taken by FICCI CASCADE and the government to create large-scale awareness among the most impacted segment of this menace: the consumer. This youth awareness initiative was one of a series of such events to be organised across the country as part of a nation-wide awareness campaign to highlight the issue and focus on the growing menace of illicit trade.
3 held for smuggling gold, foreign currency at IGIA.
Delhi Customs officials have arrested three persons for allegedly trying to smuggle gold and foreign currency in separate incidents in national Capital on Saturday.
In first incident, two persons including an Air India and SATS (Singapore Airport Terminal Services) employee for their alleged involvement in smuggling gold bars worth over Rs 26 lakh at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. While in another incident, a Bangkok bound passenger was nabbed at IGI for allegedly trying to illegally export foreign currency equivalent to over Rs 42 lakh concealed in his check-in baggage.
In first incident, according to a senior Customs official, on Saturday, a passenger arrived at the Terminal-3 of IGI Airport by an Air India Flight. “He was intercepted by the customs officials at the multilevel car parking and brought to the arrival hall along with his baggage,” said the senior Customs official.
“During search, four gold bars weighing 466 grams worth Rs 15,03,277 was recovered. Besides, he had handed over three gold bars weighing 350 grams worth Rs 11,29,071 to the Air India SATS’ Passenger Service Assistant,” said the senior Customs official.
Lear MoreUP: Liquor worth Rs 1 crore seized, six men arrested for smuggling it to Bihar.
AGRA: A gang involved in liquor smuggling to Bihar was busted by Sadar police of Agraand seized Rs 1 crore worth liquor.
According to the police, six men were arrested with 861 carton (nearly 11,000 litres) of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) along with a pick-up truck. The nabbed men were identified as Shiv Soni, Arif, Sohail, Shyamsundar, Shahrukh and Gaurav.
Kamlesh Kumar Singh, station house officer of Sadar said, “After a long chase, the gang was nabbed near Saudagar Line. During interrogation, the gang claimed, that they smuggle liquor of various brand into Bihar from Haryana, as there is a sky rocketing demand of liquor due to ban.”
“The other gang members were arrested with smuggled liquor in Bihar, Chandauli (UP) and Agra earlier. At present, four members of the gang are absconding who were identified as Praveen Shivhare, Vinod Jadaun, Anwar and Surendra Khatik,” he added.
Lear MoreDRI seizes over 12 kg gold in Kolkata, Siliguri.
Kolkata, July 27 Busting two gold smuggling rackets in Kolkata and Siliguri, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 12.5 kg of foreign origin gold valued at Rs 4.44 crores, an official said on Saturday.
In a drive against gold smuggling syndicates, DRI officials intercepted four persons – Bapi Bairagi, Nuton Bairagi, Ashim Singha and Kumkum Singha – at the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station Saturday and seized an amount of gold from them. The four were travelling from Guwahati on the Howrah-bound Saraighat Express.
“During interrogation, they said they had visited Guwahati to offer puja at Kamakhya Temple. However, 36 pieces of gold of foreign origin weighing almost 6 kg was recovered and seized from their possession,” the official said.
In another case, DRI officials on Friday apprehended three persons – Sujit Rakshit, Sanjib Rakshit and Milan Swarnakar – from a Howrah-bound bus at Kaikhali on VIP Road here and found they were carrying over 6 kg smuggled gold.
“Around 6.5 kg gold was found concealed in specially made ”waist belts” worn by the three persons. During interrogation, they have admitted that the gold was smuggled from Bangladesh through the Bongaon border and meant to be delivered to a person in Kolkata,” the official said.
https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/dri-seizes-over-12-kg-gold-in-kolkata-siliguri/1584265
Lear MoreIn two days, 386 liquor bottles seized from Mandore Express.
JODHPUR: Liquor bottles have been found in large numbers from last two days on Mandore Express plying between Delhi and Jodhpur. After a seizure of 169 bottles of liquor from the train’s toilets on Wednesday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) seized 217 more bottles of Haryana-made liquor from the toilets of four coaches on Thursday.
According to the superintendent of police (SP) GRP Mamta Rahul, all the liquor was hidden in the ceiling of the toilets to dodge the train guards. On Wednesday, the GRP had received information that liquor was being smuggled in the Mandore Express from Delhi and toilet of the S3 coach was specifically mentioned.
“Our men found a bag containing liquor bottles in the ceiling of the toilet of coach S3 and extended the search to other coaches. This led to another seizure in the toilet of coach S7,” said the officer adding that in total 169 bottles of different brands of Haryana-based liquor were seized.
Keeping this in view, a similar search was conducted on Thursday also after the arrival of the train at Jodhpur railway station at 8am. It may be noted that 217 bottles were seized from different coaches of the train.“We found total 217 bottles of liquor from the toilets of the S3, S4, S6 and S9 coaches. This liquor was also hidden in the ceiling of the toilets,” the officer said. In both the cases, however, no arrest has been made.
13 Tonnes Of Consignments Worth Over Rs 50 Lakh Seized: DRI
Hyderabad: Around 13 tonnes of restricted/prohibited items worth Rs 52.24 lakh have been seized from the cargo complex of the international airport here, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Thursday.
Based on specific intelligence, five consignments of unaccompanied baggage of African nationals, originating from Lagos, Nigeria, were intercepted on July 19, a DRI press release said.
Similarly, two consignments of commercial edible goods weighing more than three tonnes valued at Rs 11 lakh were intercepted on July 22, the release said.
Seven passengers – two from Nigeria and five from Hyderabad – were being questioned in connection with the seizure, a DRI official said.
No arrests have been made so far and further investigation was under progress, he said.
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