Customs seizes aircraft for duty evasion at Vadodara airport

The Customs department has seized an aircraft LEAR JET-45, belonging to an Alembic India group company, for alleged duty evasion, top officials said here today.

The aircraft was seized on January 25 from Vadodara, they said. "Quick Flight Ltd, an Alembic India group company, had obtained permission from the Director General Civil Aviation for a Non-Scheduled Operator Permit (NSOP), which allows duty exemption on import of aircraft, provided it is used for specified purpose," custom officials said.

"During investigations by the customs, it was revealed that this aircraft valued at about Rs 31.30 crore was being used for chartered operations, which is violation of NSOP Notification 21 of 2002 dated March 1, 2002," they added.

The violation of this notification attracts penalty equal to the amount of duty evasion. Customs duty in this case amounts to Rs7.7 crore and an equal amount of penalty would be levied on the company for violation of rules, the officials added.

"The aircraft was manufactured by US Bombardier Aerospace Corporation," an official said. It's the fourth seizure of an aircraft from a corporate house in Gujarat which had purchased an aircraft under NSOP to avail tax benefits but was later found using it for chartered operations, a customs officer said.