Thousands of tons of cooking oil, ghee being smuggled from Iran
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of tons of cooking oil/ghee are being smuggled from Iran in different cans of 5 to 20 kilograms, causing heavy losses to the country’s formal sector and national exchequer, which runs into billions of rupees.
The formal sector of ghee/cooking oil complained that the government also provided massive exemptions of GST and income tax to the industrial ghee/cooking oil units located in erstwhile FATA/PATA areas through the Finance Act 2021-22.
As such, these units paid close to Rs7,000 per ton customs duty while other units located in the settled areas were paying Rs32,000 ton on raw material. So the units located in settled areas were facing disadvantageous position.
This issue was raised during the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) under the chairmanship of Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin but so far, no solution could be found so far.
There has been one proposal floated in the NPMC meeting that the input adjustment should be introduced, so that all units could claim refunds but there was no clear-cut decision yet. The industry sources said that sofar 250,000 tons raw material were being imported by the units located in the FATA/PATA areas for meeting consumption requirement of just 5 million population.
Lear More
BSF Seized Cosmetic Items Worth 1.66 Lakh At Indo-Bangladesh Border
On 09 January, 2022 under South Bengal Frontier, troops of Border Out Post , 82 Battalion recovered cosmetics and medicines hidden in agriculture in the border area.
The incident is of January 09, 2022, on the basis of reliable information, the troops of the Border Out Post Gongra conducted a search operation in the mustard fields and succeeded in recovering the hidden cosmetics and some medicines. The market value of cosmetic goods is around 1.66 lakhs.
The recovered items have been handed over to the Customs Department, Tehta.
The Public Relations Officer of the Border Security Force stated that the Border Security Force is taking strict measures to prevent smuggling along the India-Bangladesh Border. Due to which people involved in smuggling are facing a lot of difficulties. Further, the officer stated in strong words that the Border Security Force will not allow smuggling under any circumstances.
Lear MoreNigeria: Navy Arrests 16 Over Smuggling of N113 Million Contraband
The Nigerian Navy says it has arrested 16 suspects over smuggling of N100 million worth of Indian hemp, N13 million worth of rice and petroleum products.
It said while the Indian hemp and bags of rice were being shipped into Nigeria, the drums of petroleum products, mainly premium motor spirit, were being ferried across neighbouring countries.
Commander of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT, Rear Admiral Bashir Mohammed, said the seizures were made in December 2021.
“On December 17, 2021, NNS ABA intercepted and arrested a large fibre boat conveying items suspected to be hemp bagged inside 261 large sacks. Upon interception, the crew fled with a small speed boat and abandoned the large fibre boat with its contents behind.
“Consequently, the boat was towed down to the base for further investigation. It is worthy to note that the suspected cannabis seized is worth over N100 million in the local market.
“Similarly, on December 21, 2021, NNS OSUN intercepted and arrested a large Cotonou boat laden with 413 bags of rice smuggled into Nigeria from Benin Republic. Pertinently, five crew members were arrested onboard the large boat and investigation revealed that they were all foreigners.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202201070023.html
Lear MoreAssam Rifles seized contraband cigarettes in Mizoram
CHAMPHAI: In yet another success in its crusade against smuggling activities, the Serchhip Battalion of Headquarter 23 Sector Assam Rifles under the aegis of Headquarters Inspector General Assam Rifles (East), recovered 10 cases of Foreign Origin Cigarettes worth Rs 13 lakh in the Zokhawthar area of Champhai district of Mizoram on Sunday, stated a press release.
The Customs Department at Champhai seized the contraband items for legal proceedings, the press release stated.
Ongoing smuggling of Foreign Origin Cigarettes is a major cause of concern for the State of Mizoram, especially along the India-Myanmar Border. Assam Rifles, rightly christened as the ‘Sentinels of North-East’, have continued their efforts against smuggling activities in Mizoram.
Lear More
Assam Rifles seized contraband cigarettes in Mizoram
CHAMPHAI: In yet another success in its crusade against smuggling activities, the Serchhip Battalion of Headquarter 23 Sector Assam Rifles under the aegis of Headquarters Inspector General Assam Rifles (East), recovered 10 cases of Foreign Origin Cigarettes worth Rs 13 lakh in the Zokhawthar area of Champhai district of Mizoram on Sunday, stated a press release.
The Customs Department at Champhai seized the contraband items for legal proceedings, the press release stated.
Ongoing smuggling of Foreign Origin Cigarettes is a major cause of concern for the State of Mizoram, especially along the India-Myanmar Border. Assam Rifles, rightly christened as the ‘Sentinels of North-East’, have continued their efforts against smuggling activities in Mizoram.
Lear More
$448m of smuggled goods seized within 9 months
TEHRAN – Smuggled goods worth 123 trillion rials (nearly $448 million) have been confiscated across the country over the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2021), Jalal Amini, a police official, said on Sunday.
n order to help domestic production, the fight against smuggling is underway continuously through monitoring of goods (origin and destination), implementation of plans, periodic and intermittent inspections of roads, etc. are on the agenda by the anti-trafficking police throughout the country, he explained.
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/468704/448m-of-smuggled-goods-seized-within-9-months
Lear MoreSmuggling bids foiled, gold worth Rs 2cr seized
Kozhikode: Customs air intelligence unit (AIU) foiled six attempts to smuggle gold at the Karipur airport in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. The gold seized from passengers has a total value of around Rs 2 crore.
According to Customs sources, based on the input received from DRI, Calicut AIU Batch C made a seizure of 1.19kg gold compound from a passenger hailing from Kannur. He arrived here on an Indigo flight from Sharjah. Similarly, another seizure of 958g gold compound was made from a passenger, hailing from Perinthalmanna, who had arrived on an Indigo flight from Jeddah.
Another seizure of 1,080g gold compound was made from a Malappuram native who had arrived on an Air India Express flight. As much as 890g of the gold compound was seized from another passenger, hailing from Malappuram. All four passengers had concealed the gold compound as small capsules in their rectum.
The customs team seized 164g gold from a passenger, hailing from Kasaragod, who had arrived on an Air India Express flight. He came from Dubai, and the gold was concealed in the form of a chain and small pieces inside the undergarment he was wearing.
Lear MoreS’pore Customs seizes over 3,200 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, arrests boy, 16, and 3 men
SINGAPORE – More than 3,200 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized by Singapore Customs officers during a sting at an industrial unit near Loyang Drive on Tuesday (Dec 28).
A 16-year-old boy and three men were arrested during the operation, Singapore Customs said in a statement on Friday (Dec 31).
Two of them were charged in court on Dec 30, while investigations for the other two are under way.
During the operation, Customs officers checked on a male suspect who was approaching a van after he left the industrial unit.
At the same time, officers moved in to inspect the unit and found another man retrieving duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in bed frames and packing them into canvas bags.
The two suspects were arrested and two vehicles – a lorry and a van – were seized. Another two men were later arrested for their alleged involvement in dealing with contraband.
The 3,232 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes found during the sting amounted to about $298,000 in levies evaded.
Lear MoreMaha: Counterfeit currency racket busted in Aurangabad; five held
Aurangabad, Dec 30 (PTI) Five persons have been arrested in connection with a counterfeit currency racket in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad city, police said on Thursday.
Based on specific information, the police raided a premises in Mukundwadi area on Wednesday night and seized counterfeit currency of various denominations valued at Rs 1.2 lakh and seized printing material worth over Rs 3 lakh, an official said.
The Pundliknagar police first nabbed a man who purchased liquor using a counterfeit note, he said.
The accused Raghunath Dhawlapure revealed that he had procured the fake notes from one Samran alias lucky Shaikh (30), who printed them with the help of Nitin Choudhary in a rented room at Mukundwadi, the official said.
The notes were being sold through two more accused Akshay Padul and Dadarao Gawande, he said.
https://theprint.in/india/maha-counterfeit-currency-racket-busted-in-aurangabad-five-held/791549/
Lear More
Inter-state gang selling adulterated liquor with fake labels busted, 12 arrested
With the arrest of 12 persons from Khatoli, police here Tuesday claimed to have busted an interstate gang allegedly involved in smuggling and selling adulterated liquor as branded drinks after repackaging them in bottles imitating original products.
Along with Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas, the gang was active in Alighar and Haridwar too, Senior Superintendent of Police Abhishek Yadav told newsmen here.
Their act resulted in revenue loss of crores of rupees to the government, he said.
The raid in Khatoli was a joint exercise of local police with Special Operation Group of Uttar Pradesh Police, a senior official said.
According to police, 6,281 bottles, over one lakh bottle caps and wrappers of top brands, bar codes and holograms of different distilleries were seized in the raid.
Seven bikes and two cars were also impounded, they said.
The gang was supplying adulterated liquor in government licenses shops in Khatoli too, they said.
Lear More