Mumbai Crime: Businessman nabbed in foreign cigarette smuggling case
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday arrested entrepreneur Harpreet Singh Talwar aka Kabir, a very prominent name in the clubbing business, in a case of smuggling foreign cigarettes worth Rs 3.24 crore. He was arrested from the Mumbai airport in the matter which was detected in January this year.
Confirming the development, a DRI officer told mid-day. “He was arrested on Thursday in a cigarette smuggling case and has been remanded in judicial custody.” In January the DRI had seized foreign brand cigarettes worth R3.24 crore from a container at the Nhava Sheva Port in Navi Mumbai. The cigarettes were concealed in women’s footwear.
According to the officers, around 18 lakh Gundang Garam cigarette sticks were smuggled into India through an import container from Dubai. The container had an import-export code from the Director General of Foreign Trade. Initially, the officers found women’s footwear in the consignment but while examining the same they recovered the cigarettes.
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Woman Hides 2.41 Kg Gold Worth Rs 1.1 Crore in Undergarment, Nabbed at Mangaluru Airport
Mangaluru: Every now and then, we hear stories of how drug traffickers and smugglers around the world adopt unique yet bizarre ways to smuggle illegal things from one place to another. Now, in a similar incident, customs officials at the Mangaluru International Airport on Thursday seized 2.41 kg gold, valued at around Rs 1.10 crore, from a woman passenger who had concealed the yellow metal in her undergarments. She was nabbed by the Customs officials after she arrived here from Dubai in an Air India flight.
According to a release, the accused has been identified as Mohammed Ali Sameera from Kasaragod in Kerala. The statement added that the accused “tried to smuggle gold by concealing it in both her inner garments, including sanitary pads, and also in her socks.”
She was also carrying foreign brand cigarettes in violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, which were seized from her possession. The team which seized the gold was led by Kapil Gade, Deputy Commissioner, Air Customs, Mangaluru, the release said, adding that an investigation is on.
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BSF seizes 1kg gold from Kaijuri, one held
BSF jawans nabbed a civic police volunteer from Kaijuri in North 24-Parganas on Thursday for allegedly smuggling gold into Bangladesh.
The Border Security Force seized around 1kg (998 grams) of gold from the accused civic police volunteer, Mofijur Rehman, 32, who is attached to Swarupnagar police station in North 24-Parganas.
A BSF spokesperson for south Bengal frontier in Calcutta put the approximate market value of the seized gold at around Rs 47.10 lakh.
Mofijur, a resident of Chithuri-Balti village in Swarupnagar, was handed over to customs authorities at Tentulia and later to police who registered his arrest and began a probe.
BSF sources said after receiving a tip-off from the intelligence wing of the border force, a surveillance team of the 153 battalion intercepted Mofijur as he was approaching the Bangladesh border near Kaijuri riding a motorcycle.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/bsf-seizes-1kg-gold-from-kaijuri-one-held/cid/1809217
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Illicit liquor worth Rs 21L seized in Hapur as UP cracks whip against smuggling
Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur police seized a shipment of illicit liquor worth Rs 21 lakh from a truck heading from Punjab to Kolkata in poll-bound West Bengal on Thursday.
The seizure was made at a time when the UP government has stepped up measures to curb distillation and sale of illicit liquor and smuggling of English wine in areas adjoining Delhi and Haryana in view of the forthcoming festival of Holi and the panchayat elections in the state.
According to Hapur police, three suspects following the truck in a car with Punjab registration number plates were arrested. The truck driver fled leaving the vehicle behind. The liquor was hidden under a consignment of spare parts of 300 new bicycles.
During initial interrogation, the suspects revealed that the truck was loaded with bicycle spare parts in Ludhiana in Punjab and later, the illicit liquor was hidden underneath it to avoid suspicion.
The demand for liquor has shot up, said additional chief secretary of excise Sanjay R Bhoosreddy. In fact, the state excise department has already earned Rs 218 crore in excess by February-end this year in comparison to the previous financial year.
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Air India staffers held for abetting gold smuggling at Kempegowda International Airport
BENGALURU: Two Air India employees — ground staff at Kempegowda International Airport — were nabbed on charges of abetting gold smuggling from the Gulf.
One of them, a 22-year-old woman, was caught on Wednesday while she was picking up smuggled gold paste worth Rs 40 lakh from two passengers. She was to hand over the paste to two gang members waiting outside the airport. All the suspects are from Malayamma in Kozhikode.
KIA officials said the gold smuggling nexus with Air India contract staff came to light after Emirates flight EK 564 from Dubai landed at KIA on Wednesday morning. A couple alighted from the flight with nearly 1kg of gold paste and before heading for Customs, met the woman AI staffer inside the terminal.
The trio admitted to the smuggling to an Air Intelligence Unit team and the AI woman employee said two men were waiting outside the airport to collect the paste. Customs sleuths in the guise of smugglers met the two near the parking area and apprehended them.
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960 cartons of liquor seized in UP’s Ballia ahead of panchayat polls
The liquor was brought for distribution in the panchayat polls and was also to be smuggled into Bihar, where its sale is prohibited, the SP said.
Liquor worth around ₹40 lakh allegedly meant to be distributed ahead of the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh and for smuggling into neighbouring Bihar has been seized from the city, police said on Thursday.
“During a drive to check the illegal sale of alcohol, 960 cartons of liquor worth over ₹40 lakh were recovered from separate areas on Wednesday,” Superintendent of Police Vipin Tada said.
The liquor was brought for distribution in the panchyat polls and was also to be smuggled into Bihar, where its sale is prohibited, the SP said.
He said police are running a special drive in which a ₹1,000-reward is given to a person if over 100 cartons of liquor are recovered on the basis of his/her tip-off.
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Two passengers held for smuggling gold
Enforcement authorities at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, detained two passengers in separate incidents on Monday while they were trying to smuggle in foreign origin gold.
In the first case, Shaik Masthan, an Indian National who arrived from Kuwait was caught with 160 grams of yellow metal bars.
He arrived at RGIA by Jazeera airlines flight no J9-1403 in the wee hours of Monday.
“On arrival he was detained by the Air Intelligence Unit of Customs department as he concealed the gold on his body,” an airport official told The Hindu.
In another case, the sleuths of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence detained an air passenger who concealed 2.3 kg gold in a life jacket.
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ED raids premises of forex dealers in Mumbai, Goa, seize illegal money worth Rs 44.37 lakh
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has conducted searches at the office and residential premises of three forex dealers and their directors situated in Mumbai and Goa and seized illegal money worth Rs 44.37 lakh. The dealing companies Full-Fledged Money Changers (FFMC,) Sete Mares Global Forex Pvt Ltd, Nemichand Khemraj Forex Pvt Ltd.
“The search resulted in the seizure of Rs 44.37 lakh and assorted foreign currencies worth Rs 9.55 lakh which was in contravention of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and Rules and Regulation made thereunder,” the ED said in a statement issued. “Further, incriminating documents, laptops, mobile phones, containing information related to hawala transactions, smuggling of foreign currency were also recovered and seized during the search operation,” it added.
These companies, engaged in the business of foreign currency exchange, had deposited huge amounts of cash in the bank accounts on a daily basis and remitted it through RTGS and NEFT to other FFMCs and collected foreign currency in cash which aroused suspicion against these companies. “It was suspected that these companies may be involved in trade based hawala and the foreign currencies collected by these companies were smuggled out of the country to settle transactions abroad”, the ED said.
Lear More3 arrested for smuggling IMFL meant for sale in Goa
Aurangabad: The state excise department on Thursday seized a pick-up van for smuggling 1,152 bottle of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) — meant for sale only in the state of Goa. Police have seized the vehicle and alcohol all amounting to around Rs 4 lakh.
The suspects had modified the floor of the pick-up van and installed multiple containers for storing the liquor boxes. To avoid getting nabbed, the accused would put the illegally obtained liquor boxes and cover them with the metal flooring. To deceive the law enforcement agencies, the accused would put some goods in the pickup jeep.
Once delivered, this liquor, purchased at lesser price from Goa, would give them heavy returns after being sold in the open market. The suspects have been identified as Dhamma Wakte and Ganesh Lahane.
An excise official said that the suspects are part of an inter-state racket involved in procuring liquor from Union Territories and selling it in Maharashtra.
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Two arrested at RGIA for smuggling gold, cigarettes
Hyderabad: Customs sleuths apprehended a passenger who arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International (RGI) Airport from Dubai for trying to smuggle in 1.6kg gold on Tuesday.
Customs officials also apprehended a passenger for trying to smuggle in foreign cigarettes.
The passenger, Amtul H Mohammed, of Hakimpet, concealed pouches containing gold paste weighing about 1.6 kilos inside her clothes. The accused arrived from Dubai at 2.50pm on Tuesday.
Amtul opted for a green channel at customs check area, indicating that she was not carrying any dutiable items. Customs sleuths intercepted her and recovered the gold worth Rs 74 lakh. They booked a case against her under the Customs Act and seized the gold.
In another incident, customs officials apprehended a 41-year-old man for trying to smuggle in 40,000 cigarette sticks.
During the early hours of Wednesday, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel intercepted a passenger, Abdul Azeez K of Kerala who arrived from Abu Dhabi.
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