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.
Lear MoreDRI seizes 42 kg of smuggled gold
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 42 kg of smuggled gold worth ₹16.50 crore and arrested 10 persons in operations conducted in Kolkata, Raipur and Mumbai. “Over the past two days, the DRI has busted a pro-active gold smuggling syndicate. It led to the seizure of 42 kg of smuggled gold and jewellery weighing more than 500 gm,” said an official.
The operation was launched on an intelligence input that gold smuggled in from Bangladesh had been kept in a flat of one Govind Malviya alias Govind Lal Lohar, another flat of his associate Firoj Mulla and his shop in different parts of Kolkata.
A total of 26.650 kg of gold in the form of bars, biscuits, cut pieces and jewellery weighing 552.030 gm were found on the residential premises. “Seven persons, Govind Malviya, Anna Ram, Mahendra Kumar, Firoj Mulla, Suraj Magabul Mulla, Kailash Jagtap and Vishal Ankush Mane, were arrested under the Customs Act,” the official said.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dri-seizes-42-kg-of-smuggled-gold/article30272996.ece
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Man caught smuggling cigarettes hidden in loaves of bread at Woodlands Checkpoint
SINGAPORE: A Malaysian man was caught on Sunday (Dec 8) attempting to smuggle into Singapore 32 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in loaves of bread.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the 52-year-old man was carrying four loaves of bread and had been behaving suspiciously at the Woodlands Checkpoint’s arrival hall.
ICA officers stopped him and found cigarette packs sandwiched between the slices of bread. The case has been referred to Singapore Customs for further investigation, ICA said.
“This method of concealment is a cause for concern as similar methods may be used by people with ill intent to smuggle security items into Singapore,” ICA added. This is not the first time that food items have been used to smuggle contraband cigarettes into Singapore.
In February, a Malaysian man was caught at Woodlands Checkpoint with packets of cigarettes in a hollowed-out loaf of bread. More than 2,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were also found hidden in ice boxes of seafood at Woodlands Checkpoint in November last year.
Lear More23-year-old Kalbadevi jeweller bought 180 kg smuggled gold in a year, arrested by DRI
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested a 23-year-oldKalbadevi jeweller on Monday for allegedly receiving 180 kilos of smuggled gold in just the past 10 months.
At today’s bullion rates, the gold Sahil Jain received is worth Rs 66 crore. While gold smuggling is nothing new, Jain’s arrest has revealed that the amount of contraband gold entering Mumbai every year may be many times more than earlier estimated.
Jain was arrested after a tip-off received by DRI’s Mumbai Zonal Unit led it to a passenger travelling from Kolkata on Howrah Express. Identified as Gopa Ram by the DRI, the 36-year-old passenger was carrying 6.9 kg of gold to be delivered to Jain. The gold was concealed in the inner lining of a jacket.
There has been a spike in contraband gold entering Mumbai ever since the import duty on the precious metal was increased from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Still, just one jeweller receiving such a large quantity of smuggled gold in just under a year has surprised DRI officers.
Lear MoreJeweller among two arrested in gold smuggling racket
MUMBAI: The Directorate Revenue of Intelligence (DRI) on Sunday arrested a jeweller from Kalbadevi and a businessman from Andhra Pradesh for their alleged involvement in a gold smuggling racket. The officials seized 7kg gold worth Rs 3 crore that was illegally smuggled from Dubai. The DRI has already arrested more than one dozen people in the ongoing investigation in the racket.
According to sources, the DRI Kolkata unit recently got a tipoff that a gold-smuggling gang was operating from Kolkata, Mumbai and Rajpur via Bangladesh through the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Based on information gathered from various zonal DRIs, in October, officials raided various places in the three cities and recovered 41kg gold worth Rs 12.5 crore. During investigation, the officials learnt that Goparam Vagtaram, a businessman from Andhra Pradesh, used to ferry the gold to Mumbai. “We kept a vigil on him and finally on Sunday, caught him red-handed when he was travelling to Mumbai on Howrah-LTT Samarsata Express. “We found four gold bars weighing a total 7kg concealed in his clothes,” said an official.
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