Contraband cigarettes found hidden in God of Fortune figurines at Woodlands Checkpoint.
SINGAPORE – At first glance, the plump, gold ingot-wielding figurines look like the benevolent smiling Chinese God of Fortune.
But officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) were not easily taken in when carrying out X-ray checks.
They discovered a total of 11,285 cartons and 7,685 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes found hidden inside the figurines on a Malaysia-registered lorry at Woodlands Checkpoint on Wednesday (Jan 13).
In a Facebook post on Saturday on how the smuggling attempt of the contraband cigarettes was foiled, ICA said its officers noticed anomalies in the X-ray images of Chinese New Year-related figurines transported by a Malaysian lorry entering Singapore.
Lear MoreDuo smuggles gold, iPhones, cigarettes and liquor: Arrested
Chennai: The duo, Syed Ibrahim Gani (27) and Shahul Hameed (36), reached Chennai airport on a flight from Sharjah. At the exit, Customs officials intercepted them based on intelligence input.
When they were searched, officials found that they were carrying six gold paste bundles in their rectum. On extraction, 1.29 kg gold valued at Rs 66 lakh was recovered. Besides these, officials also found one 60 g gold chain and three gold cut bits weighing 70 g in their pockets.
The AIU sleuths searched their bag and found 11 iPhone 12 Pro, 8 old laptops, 8 liquor bottles and 44 cartons of foreign cigarettes.
In all, 1.42 kg gold worth Rs 72.6 lakh and other good worth Rs 12.4 lakh were recovered and seized under the Customs Act, and both passengers were arrested, said a statement from the office of the Commissioner of Customs on Wednesday.
Lear More13 held for selling fake food products in Chennai.
The city police have arrested 13 sellers who were allegedly selling fake products in the brand name of a food products supplier. They were operating from various parts of city including Tambaram, Chromepet, MGR Nagar, Kannagi Nagar and Sankar Nagar.
The management of Laljee Godhoo (LG) and Co. received information that a few shopkeepers were stocking fake asafoetida products in the name of their firm and selling them to customers. A representative of the firm complained to the city police and based on complaint, the city police raided a few places in the city.
MGR Nagar police arrested B. Kannan, 48 of T.S Lakshmanan street and seized 113 kg of asafoetida in containers with fake labels. Similarly, S. Rajendran, 53 of Lakshmipuram was arrested by Chromepet Police and 100 kg of fake goods were recovered from him. Tambaram, Kannagi Nagar, and Sankar Nagar police arrested 11 more persons for the offence.
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Illicit liquor smuggling racket using fake label of popular brands busted in Jhajjar; five held
With the arrest of five persons, the local police on Monday claimed to have busted a racket involved in smuggling illicit liquor with fake labels of popular brands. It has also seized 714 cartons of illicit liquor and other materials.
The accused have been identified as Surender of Rankhanda village, Sundar of Chhichhdana (Sonepat), Mohammad Farman, Sahil and Manaazir of Bareli (Uttar Pradesh), while the police have recovered duplicate stickers and cartons of Blender Pride, Royal Stag and Old Monk brands from the spot. Surender was the kingpin of the racket.
Rajesh Duggal, Superintendent of Police (SP), informed they got a tip-off that illicit liquor was being supplied from a godown located on the Badli road here.
A police team led by Inspector Jitender Singh conducted the raid there and arrested the accused working there. A total of 714 cartons of illegal liquor were also recovered from the godown, he added.
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Smuggled cigarettes seized from Indo-Myanmar border.
Aizawl: Security forces seized 93 cases of foreign-origin smuggled cigarettes in Zokhawthar town in Champhai district on the Indo-Myanmar border, said Assam Rifles.
The contraband worth Rs 1.20 crore in the local market was recovered by the joint surveillance team of Assam Rifles and customs department on early Monday, the sources said.
The consignment was seized and handed over to custom departments in Zokhawthar for legal proceedings, it said.
Extensive anti-seizure operations have successfully thwarted the smuggling nexus along the Indo-Myanmar border, Assam Rifles sources added.
The Assam Rifles recently launched an anti-drug campaign in Mizoram to fight drug abuse and drug smuggling.
https://www.eastmojo.com/mizoram/2021/01/12/smuggled-cigarettes-seized-from-indo-myanmar-border
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Cigarettes hidden inside spare tyre seized.
The Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) foiled an attempt to smuggle contraband including cigarettes hidden inside a spare tyre during a check on a vehicle near Negalang Ering Muslim cemetery, Jalan Labu, Temburong on Saturday.
Bangar Police Station personnel stopped a vehicle at around 11am during a crime prevention patrol at the vicinity of the cemetery, according to the the RBPF.
Police personnel found a number of suspicious-looking boxes believed to contain contraband and undeclared items in the vehicle’s bonnet and rear seats.
The contraband found included cigarettes, several bottles of alcohol, dubious chicken wings, electronic items, medicine, vehicle spare parts, food, clothing and Astro equipment. Two detained suspects were a male driver, permanent resident aged 40, and a local female aged 36.
The suspects and the vehicle with the contraband were brought to the Bangar Police Station. The case was handed over to the Royal Customs and Excise Department (RCED) for investigations.
https://borneobulletin.com.bn/cigarettes-hidden-inside-spare-tyre-seized-2/
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Chennai Air Customs department seized foreign currency worth Rs 1.04 cr
Chennai Air Customs department seized foreign currencies worth Rs 1.04 crore from six Dubai-bound persons while one of them was arrested. The six passengers — Mansoor Ali Khan, Yakalik, Thameem Ansari, MohamadHussain, Yousuf and Abdul Rahman — were intercepted after they had cleared immigration and were proceeding towards the security hold area, said Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport, on Saturday. On searching their backpacks, several power banks were found hidden. On breaking open the power banks, various foreign currency notes valued at Rs 1.04 crore were found concealed inside and were seized. One person Ansari was arrested as the seizure value from him crossed Rs 20 lakh, the Customs department said.
Lear MoreMumbai: DRI recovers smuggled cigarettes worth Rs 3.24 crore.
MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recovered 18,00,000 sticks of Gudang Garam cigarettes concealed in an imported container that arrived from Dubai on January 7.
The consignment of cigarettes was seized.
According to officials, the value of seized cigarettes is estimated to be around Rs 3.24 crore. During a probe, the investigators stated that like previous such consignments of cigarettes caught by DRI Mumbai, this consignment was also imported in the name of a poor person whose KYC documents had been misused to fraudulently obtain Import Export Code from DGFT.
“They stated that the smuggling of cigarettes is a very serious offence as not only the Government loses huge revenue, taxes being more than 100% on these sin goods, but also the smuggled cigarettes do not carry the mandatory statutory warning on the packets,” officials added.
Lear MoreDelhi: Smuggling racket of costly liquor busted
NEW DELHI: Police have busted a racket of smuggling scotch and expensive liquor from low-taxed states to high-taxed states. A bus was hired for the purpose. Cops seized whisky worth Rs 1.5 lakh.
Anto Alphonse, DCP, north, said, “On January 5, constables Kapil and Shrikant were on patrolling duty. They went to Gokhle Market in Tis Hazari where Shyam Soni, manager of a travel company, was loading parcels in a bus. The cops asked Soni about the contents of the parcels, but he could not give any satisfactory answer.
The officers then opened the parcels and liquor bottles were found inside. The whisky was being smuggled to Madhya Pradesh as there is very high excise duty on liquor in the state as compared to Delhi and Haryana.”
Lear MoreVadodara: Four conmen held with fake currency
VADODARA: The local crime branch of Vadodara rural police arrested four persons with fake currency notes with the face value of Rs 22 lakh on Wednesday.
The four accused were handed over to Narmada police on Thursday as they had conned a person in Rajpipla by promising to double the money through ‘tantric’ rituals. Police said that they had nabbed the four accused identified as Shivu Makwana, Rajesh Makwana, Ibrahim Makwana and Vijaysinh Mahida from Ankhi bus stand near Por.
Cops had received information about the four accused being involved in some suspicious activities.
When their car was checked, police found wads of notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 100 denomination. However, the currency notes with face value of Rs 22 lakh turned out to be fake. Original notes of Rs 2.6 lakh value were also found on them.
When questioned, the four accused told police that they cheat people by promising to double their money through tantric rituals. “They had conned a person in Rajpipla on Wednesday. When the victim realized that he was cheated, he lodged a complaint at Rajpipla police station,” said LCB inspector D B Vala.
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