Foreign currencies worth Rs 40L seized at Trichy airport
Trichy: Authorities from the directorate revenue intelligence (DRI) secured three people and seized Rs 40 lakh worth of foreign currencies from them at the Trichy international airport.
According to airport authorities, a team of officials from the DRI intercepted the three passengers at the terminal when they were about to board a Sharjah-bound Air Indian Express flight on Saturday morning.
Subsequently, the team seized US dollars and Saudi riyals valued at Rs 40 lakh. The passengers were identified as Afraf Ali, 33, Prem Nazir, 33, Trichy and Mohammed Rizwan, 28, from Chennai.
With this, officials have so far recovered over Rs 1.08 crore worth foreign currency notes in the last five months, sources said.
Counterfeit & smuggling invisible threat to economy, caused over Rs 39,000 crore loss
HYDERABAD: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) representatives have pointed out that stringent enforcement coupled with increased customer awareness is the only way to curb counterfeiting and smuggling of goods, which cause over Rs 39,239 crore annual revenue loss to the exchequer.
Speaking at a seminar organised by FICCI CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) on Tuesday, PC Jha, FICCI CASCADE advisor and former chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs(CBEC), said the volume of counterfeiting activity globally increased 100 times in the last 20 years and the size of the trade in counterfeit goods was 10% of the legal international trade. “The problem of illicit trade is severe than it is commonly perceived,” Jha added.
As per the FICCI CASCADE report released in 2015, the government losses revenue due to counterfeiting and smuggling in seven manufacturing sectors was Rs 39,239 crore. While the maximum revenue loss of Rs 9,139 crore was in tobacco products, it was Rs 6,705 crore in mobiles phones and Rs 6,309 crore in alcoholic beverages.
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Fake products: 80% of consumers believe they use genuine ones, say FICCI
NEW DELHI: Around 20 per cent of accidents on Indian roads are caused by counterfeit automobile parts, while 30 per cent of FMCG items sold are fake, but 80 per cent of consumers still believe that they are using genuine products, according to FICCI CASCADE.
Stating that illicit products are adversely affecting Indian consumers, the industry body which is working on addressing the issue of unlawful trade activities in India, said there’s an urgent need to increase not just awareness in consumer but also among lawmakers and enforcement agencies.
FICCI CASCADE(Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) further said counterfeiting and illicit trade has also led to huge revenue loss to the exchequer.
Lear MoreCigarettes, gold most smuggled items in Gujarat
Ahmedabad: Estimates by officials of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) – Ahmedabad Zonal Unit, indicate that cigarettes and gold are among the highest smuggled commodities in Gujarat. “While some 80 lakh sticks of cigarettes were smuggled in Gujarat from April to July, about 110kg gold was smuggled in the same period. The risk and investment involved in smuggling of cigarette is lesser than what it is for gold,” said Arvind Kumar Chaurasia, deputy director, DRI – Ahmedabad Zonal Unit.
Smuggling of cigarettes yields higher profits than what is earned in gold, said Chaurasia. He was present at a seminar and panel discussion on ‘Combating Counterfeiting and Smuggling – An Imperative to Accelerate Economic Development’, organized in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Disparity in taxes and prices of the same commodities usually leads to increase in smuggling. Among other items being smuggled into Gujarat, include Red Sanders, diamond powder and pharmaceuticals.
Lear MoreMan held with gold worth Rs 72 lakh at IGI airport
NEW DELHI: A man has been arrested by the customs officials at international airport here for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold valuing about Rs 72 lakh.
The accused was intercepted after his arrival from Dubai on Sunday. “His baggage search resulted in recovery of gold weighing 2.46 kg in the form of seven pieces, found concealed in a wallet and cigarette box kept in a stroller trolley bag, having market value of Rs 71.88 lakh,” a press release issued today by the customs said.
The passenger, aged 40 years, has been arrested and the gold seized, it said.
Lear MoreBusinessman held for over Rs 3 crore gold smuggling
MUMBAI: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials on Wednesday arrested businessman Yusuf Kalwa in a case involving smuggling of 12.5kg gold worth Rs 3.6 crore through a courier. His son, Mustafa, is already in judicial custody for the same offence. They are believed to have smuggled in 50kg gold using the same modus operandi.
In July, DRI had unearthed a racket wherein gold was procured from Dubai and smuggled in Mumbai through courier from London. Officials had arrested two others, including Muzaffar Pawaskar, promoter of Global Trading Company, for allowing his company’s import-export code for smuggling in gold. The gold was declared as machine parts and coated with iron to evade detection. Customs has a courier cell but it carries out random checks of consignments.
Officials said in 2012, Yusuf and his wife Farida were arrested from the airport for attempting to smuggle 13 high-end Hublot watches worth Rs 1.82 crore from Dubai. Famida had wrapped the watches in a waist pouch and hid it under her burqa. Both were later released on bail.
Lear More4 smuggling rackets busted at air cargo complex in 2 months
MUMBAI: In the past two months, at least four different agencies have unearthed as many smuggling rackets in the air cargo complex at Sahar, raising questions about the existing monitoring system.
The latest was on Saturday when officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) intercepted a consignment declared as ‘machine parts and crankshaft’ and seized five kg of gold worth Rs 1.39 crore and Iridium worth Rs 30 lakh. Iridium is used by jewellers for mixing with gold to add weight. The metal, much cheaper than gold, is mixed while melting and is difficult to trace.
In another case last week, the Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch(SIIB) of the customs unearthed a racket involving smuggling of mobile phones and laptops by misdeclaring them as chemicals. Two other cases of smuggling, involving blank guns and mobile accessories, were unearthed by the directorate of vigilance and the Central Intelligence Unit.
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1.6kg gold smuggling bid: Tamil Nadu official held
TRICHY: An immigration official was caught red-handed by customs sleuths in Trichy on Thursday when he was trying to hand over gold biscuits to a passenger who had earlier arrived from Kuala Lumpur with the smuggled valuable.
According to sources, the sleuths of the air intelligence wing detained the official in the early hours of Thursday outside the airport when he was about to hand over the 1.6 kg of gold biscuits smuggled in by the passenger.
Balaji Baskar, a Bureau of Immigration sub inspector, who was on duty at the Trichy airport, secured 16 pieces of gold biscuits – each weighing 100 grams – from Sadique Ali, who arrived from Malaysia by an Air Asia flight, say sources.
Ali, a native of Lalgudi, handed over the bis cuits to Balaji Basker before undergoing the routine checking and frisking process at the immigration and customs area.
Smuggling of foreign-made cigarettes rises
GUWAHATI: After dealing with the smuggling of drugs and gold, the anti-vice cell of the state police is now faced with rising instances of cigarette smuggling, brought into the region from neighbouring south Asian countries via Manipur and Nagaland.
“Smugglers bring the items to Guwahati. From here, they are distributed to other parts of the country and neighbouring states. Most of these cigarettes cost less than those made in India. As these cigarettes are not duty paid and many brands have price tags in foreign languages, traders make quite a bit of profit,” sources said.
On Wednesday, state police CID seized foreign-made cigarettes worth Rs 30 lakh from a parking zone at Gopal Than here. “Around 35 cartons of foreign-made cigarettes were found concealed in a truck coming from Nagaland. One person was detained,” sources said. Most of the seized products were made in Myanmar or Korea and are believed to have higher nicotine content that the ones sold in India.
Lear MoreJet staffer held with Rs 1.2 crore worth gold in Mumbai
MUMBAI: A senior employee of a private airline was arrested with four kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 1.2 crore at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Tuesday night.
Nadeem Ansari , 29, employed as a senior service supervisor with Jet Airways, was intercepted by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials while leaving the airport with five pouches containing 4.05 kg gold. Ansari was promised Rs 75,000 if he could manage to sneak out of the airport the gold that had been smuggled into the country by a carrier from Dubai that evening and left in an airline bus.
Jet Airways has suspended Ansari pending enquiry and will take further action based on the outcome of the probe. The identity of the passenger who smuggled the gold has been withheld. Interestingly, the passenger travelled business class as they enjoy the privilege of exiting the aircraft first. “Ansari was not on duty and should not have been there at the airport. Moreover, his job was to supervise operations at the passenger counters,” an official said.