Pune: Flyer held with gold worth Rs 34.8 lakh for smuggling
PUNE: Attempts to smuggle gold continues at the city airport despite scheduled international flight operations remaining suspended because of Omicron infections.
Pune customs officers on February 7 arrested a flyer for attempting to smuggle 708 grams of gold bars and pieces, collectively worth Rs34. 81 lakh, on a special international flight operating at present. He had concealed the gold in his shoes, the customs authorities said on Friday.
“The arrest was made based on a tip-off from officers of the air intelligence unit of the Pune customs. On interrogation, the passenger confessed that he had travelled from Dubai to Ahmedabad in an international flight, concealed the gold in the aircraft, and then retrieved it when he was travelling from Ahmedabad to Pune in the same aircraft. The passenger was arrested under the provisions of the Customs Act for his attempt to smuggle gold into the country,” a customs official said.
Scheduled international flight operations were to start from India from December 15 last year but was postponed after the emergence of the Omicron variant. At present, the Pune airport has a SpiceJet’s international flight flying to Sharjah thrice a week. Before the pandemic, the airport had two flights to Dubai — one operated by SpiceJet and the other by Air India Express.
Lear MoreLaunch of Anti-Smuggling Day, 2022
The existence and operation of illicit markets such as smuggling has been an enduring problem. India because of its topographical diversity and difficult terrain is usually exploited by smuggling cartels, posing a huge challenge to law enforcement agencies in their collective efforts to thwart cross border smuggling. The effects of smuggling are numerous and economically significant.
In order to give further impetus on the work done in the anti-smuggling domain, FICCI CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) earmarked 11 February as an Anti-Smuggling Day beginning 2022. ‘Anti-Smuggling Day’ will represent a major step in the fight against the global menace of smuggling.
Mr Balesh Kumar, Member-Investigation, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, while delivering the keynote address at the launch of Anti-Smuggling Day, said, “Smuggling which is a huge threat to national security, requires all stakeholders including industry to come together to tackle it.” He also stated that the government has always been committed to combating the menace of smuggling and have institutionalized coordination between agencies, which has helped in generating volumes of information that are not only timely but also accurate leading to major seizures. Quoting a recent seizure, Mr Kumar informed, “As recent as 6th Feb 2022, DRI in Imphal, Manipur effected a seizure of 12.5 kgs of gold coming across from Myanmar and over 46 lakh sticks of cigarettes worth Rs 9.5 crores in one single operation.”
Anti-Smuggling Day was launched with an objective of enhancing coordination and cooperation between law enforcement agencies, facilitating better exchange of information and experiences, and building a strong network to find innovative solutions to combat the menace of smuggling.
Highlighting the several initiatives undertaken by the World Customs Organisation to fight the menace of smuggling, Mr PK Das, Director, Compliance and Facilitation Directorate, World Customs Organisation in his special address said, “Smugglers and other criminals who are known to be agile and creative have also profited from the fruits of globalization and technological advances. They are misusing the opportunities presented by technology for their nefarious activities. The customs department has a major role to play in mitigating the challenges posed by illicit trade for the country and the economy.”
Speaking on the need for an Anti-Smuggling Day, Mr Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE said, “Despite smuggling being a global menace, due focus and thrust has not been given to this mounting threat which is not only damaging our exchequer and leading to job losses but is also impacting the safety and security of nations worldwide. In this context, it is critical to emphasize and generate global awareness about the fact that the root cause of illicit trade lies in smuggling.”
“With FICCI CASCADE taking the lead in launching the Anti-Smuggling Day today, I am confident that in the years to come, it will not only raise greater awareness on the issue but will also get to the core of the problem which eventually will minimize the all-round dreadful impact of smuggling and related activities,” he added.
Mr Najib Shah, Former Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and Think Tank Member, FICCI CASCADE while moderating the session on Containing the Menace of Smuggling: Securing National Economy said “Anti-Smuggling Day apart from spreading awareness on the ill-effects of smuggling will further enhance cooperation between all enforcement agencies who are tasked to thwart the menace of smuggling”.
“Indian Customs, including DRI, has built a robust legal and administrative system, pioneering the implementation of automation, risk management, data analytics, and passenger profiling to combat smuggling effectively”, said Dr D P Dash, Former Pr. Director-General, DRI, Former Chairman, Enforcement Committee, World Customs Organisation (WCO) and Think Tank Member, FICCI CASCADE in his concluding remarks.
The webinar also saw a host of notable speakers such as Mr Stefano Betti, Deputy Director-General, Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), Mr Aniket Singh, DIG and Director (Anti-Smuggling and Narcotics Control), Indian Coast Guard and Mr Amerish Kumar Arya, DIG, Border Security Force, who took part in the deliberations and extended their support to this initiative.
Speakers echoed on a meaningful, regular, and timely discussion as an essential element to protect the domestic interests of every nation and to defeat this worldwide threat.
As a run-up to Anti-Smuggling Day, and to sensitize the youth on the menace of smuggled goods, FICCI CASCADE also organized a Digital Art/Poster making competition on the theme, ‘Stand Against Smuggling’. Mr. Narendra K Sabharwal, Chairman, FICCI IP Committee & Former Deputy Director General, WIPO, Ms. Kameswari Subramanian, International Expert, Customs Law, Procedures & Trade Facilitation and Justice Manmohan Sarin, Former Lokayukta, NCT of Delhi, Chief Justice, High Court of J&K and Judge, High Court of Delhi judged the competition.
Jury Chair, Justice Sarin, while felicitating the winners of the competition said, “Such competitions encourage creative skills and ability in the youth simultaneously sensitizing them to the harmful effects of smuggling and imbibing a resolve to shun illicit products.” The competition witnessed an overwhelming response and saw a plethora of ideas, innovative expression, talent and content exhibited in posters.
The winners of the competition were:
- First Prize: Bharat Garima from Bihar
- Second Prize: Harsh Sahani from Uttar Pradesh
- Third prize: Parveen Kumar from Himachal Pradesh
- Special Incentive Prizes:
- Heba Alam from Delhi and
- Rahul Saini from Delhi
Pre-event Coverage reportDownload Pdf
Assam Rifles foils cross border smuggling in Manipur, seizes illegal goods worth Rs 16.9 lakh
Assam Rifles foiled a cross border smuggling in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district on Friday, and seized illegal goods worth Rs 16.9 lakh.
The official statement of Assam Rifles read: “During a border domination patrol, troops of Assam Rifles uncovered a large number of packages concealed in thick foliage in the forest near Kwatha village. On thorough search of the packages, illegal goods including foreign cigarettes, cosmetic items and betel nuts were recovered. The smuggled items are assessed to be worth Rs 16.9 lakh.”
The recovered items have been handed over to Custom Preventive Force, they said.
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Duplicate toys of popular brands seized in Burrabazar
Two US-based companies had apparently found out about the sale of duplicate toys during a survey they were conducting in various parts of the country
Duplicate toys resembling characters from Walt Disney and Marvel comics have been seized from three toy stores in Burrabazar.
Police have started a case of copyright violation and cheating against the owners of the stores based on the complaint by the representatives of Disney Enterprise Inc and Marvel Character Inc.
These two US-based companies had apparently found out about the sale of duplicate toys during a survey they were conducting in various parts of the country.
Based on the complaint, the enforcement branch of city police raided three toy stores in the ground floor of Lakshmi Katra market on Canning Street and found a large number of alleged counterfeit toys on Wednesday.
“We have started a case under sections of the Copyright Act and that of cheating and criminal conspiracy,” said an officer of the enforcement branch.
The police said the two US-based companies had hired a firm in New Delhi to carry out a survey on the sale of their products across India.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/news/toys-of-fake-brands-seized-in-burrabazar/cid/1851283
Lear MoreThree held for smuggling tobacco products, foreign cigarettes
Three persons, who were procuring and selling noxious banned tobacco products and smuggled foreign cigarettes, were arrested by Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force (South zone) team here on Wednesday.
The accused are Mohammed Muqaddin (21), a Kirana shop owner from Bahadurpura, Imran Ahmed (36) of YAS General Store from Khaja Nagar, Attapur, and Mohammed Waseem (45), a businessman from Hakimpet. Two others, Yadhav and Kishore from Bidar in Karnataka, are still at large.
According to inspector S. Raghavendra, police seized tobacco products and foreign cigarettes worth ₹12 lakh from the accused.
The trio along with the seized material were handed over to Bahadurpura police for further investigation.
Lear MoreIndore: Adulterated hing powder making unit busted, 1 held
INDORE: Cracking down on trade of fake spices and other adulterated food material, a joint team of Indore crime branch police and district food department on Friday raided a factory and seized hing (asafoetida) powder in large quantity. The estimated value of the seized item was Rs50 lakh.
The police said that they had received a tip-off that a group of people were engaged in manufacturing adulterated hing powder at a factory in Himmat Nagar at Palda industrial area. A joint team of Indore crime branch police and district food department raided the establishment and recovered adulterated hing powder in large quantity. The raiding team also seized raw material including flour and oil along with packaging and labelling material from the establishment.
Factory owner Sahil Makhija, a resident of Palace Colony was arrested. During preliminary investigation, the police found out that the accused was associated with a group of people who were manufacturing adulterated spices in the same factory in the year 2020, and were booked under the National Security Act. The accused however managed to change name of the factory and started production of adulterated spices again.
Lear More15 packs of fake desi ghee seized in Ambala’s Barara
Officials of the food safety department, the police and an Indore-based private detective company seized 15 packs of duplicate Patanjali desi ghee of 1 kg each from a wholesaler in Ambala’s Barara, the police said on Thursday.
Out of the total seized packs, four were taken by the food safety officials for sampling to check adulteration. An FIR was lodged under Sections of the copyright and IPC Acts at the Barara police station on Wednesday.
Akhilesh Pal of the IP Indore Investigation and detective services said they had been authorised by Patanjali and had documents related to copyright and trademark.
“Two wholesalers – Sunderlal Sunil Kumar Traders and Narender Superstore — were checked by us. At Narender superstore, it was found that the design and print of 15 desi ghee packs were different from our client’s company. The packs were made to look similar to the original product,” Pal said.
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Officials Seize Large Cache of Fake COVID Vaccines, Drugs, Test Kits in Varanasi
New Delhi: In a raid conducted on February 2, the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has secured a large tranche of spurious COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and rapid antigen test kits from Varanasi.
The accused were five individuals in Varanasi and nine in Delhi, working together.
Uttar Pradesh’s assembly elections are set to begin in a week.
According to a note sent by the state FDA to the Drug Controller General of India, and which The Wire Science has seen, the total seizure is worth Rs 4 crore.
“Huge quantity of illegal and spurious Covid-19 vaccine(s), Covid-19 rapid test kits, unlabelled vials of Covishield vaccine, remdesivir injection and other material to carry out the manufacturing, labelling and packaging of the vaccines” has been recovered, according to the communique.
Officials also seized as many as 10,800 kits of ‘Standard Q Covid-19 Ag SD BIOSENSOR Rapid Test Kits’. In normal course, the kits are manufactured by SD Biosensor Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., a Gurugram-based company. The seized materials had fake batch numbers and fake expiry dates.
Lear MoreBengaluru: Smuggling of currency, gold via Kempegowda International Airport shoots up; seven attempts in January
BENGALURU: February arrived with Customs sleuths at Kempegowda International Airport nabbing two men from Tamil Nadu for attempting to smuggle out foreign currency, including US dollars and UAE dirhams, worth Rs 8.4 lakh to Dubai.
In fact, throughout January, there was a marked rise in smuggling from and to KIA. Authorities cracked six cases of gold and currency smuggling and busted another racket which brought heroin worth Rs 5.3 crore via air courier.
In the recent past, smuggling activities through KIA have been at an all-time low as international flight numbers went down due to the pandemic situation. But things began changing towards the end of 2021, and January of 2022 saw a sudden surge in illegal activities, including gold and currency smuggling from the Gulf by carriers who are often part of international gangs with links to Bengaluru.
2022 began with a smuggling bid on January 4 when the sleuths unearthed 24 gold biscuits worth a whopping Rs 1.4 crore hidden under a passenger seat of an IndiGo flight that had arrived from Dubai.
“The gold weighing 2.8kg was pasted by the smuggler under the seat using a duct tape, possibly for his accomplice to retrieve it at a later period when the flight switched to domestic leg to head to another city after landing in Bengaluru,” said an officer with Bengaluru Customs. On January 18, there were attempts by two passengers who flew down from Dubai with gold paste worth Rs 42 lakh hidden in their bodies. The following day saw a domestic passenger arriving from Mumbai with smuggled foreign gold pieces worth over Rs 26 lakh.
‘Fake ghee’ packets seized in Ambala, case registered
The Ambala police have registered a case under charges of the copyright Act and cheating, using false property mark and counterfeiting property mark after fake packets of Patanjali ghee were allegedly recovered from a store in Barara of Ambala on Wednesday evening.
Akhilesh Pal, a resident of Indore, stated that their company’s “investigation and detective services” had been authorised by Patanjali Ayurved Limited to keep a check on fake products. In his complaint to the police, Akhilesh said they came to know that two wholesalers, Narender Super Store and Sunder Lal Sunil Kumar Trader, in Barara were selling Patanjali Ghee at lower rates.
A team comprising food safety officer Rajiv Kumar and Barara police conducted raids in this regard. During checking, 15 packs of 1 kg each of Patanjali Ghee were recovered from Narender Super Store which didn’t match with the company’s product. The printing, artwork and colour were different. Four samples have been taken by the food safety officer for testing.
The complainant further stated that as per his experience, the packs were prepared to look like Patanjali’s ghee in order to cheat the customers.
A case was registered under Sections 420, 482, 483, 485, 486 of the IPC and 63, 64, and 65 of the Copyright Act at the Barara police station.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/fake-ghee-packets-seized-in-ambala-case-registered-366877
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