Imported cigarettes worth Rs1crore seized

The Marine and Preventive wing of Customs has seized a consignment of imported cigarettes worth Rs one crore in Vasai on Friday.

The consignment was concealed in a carpet behind soft drink crates in a shop. The shop owner has been arrested.

“Sachin Patel, the proprietor of Bhoomi Enterprises, Om Nagar, Vasai Road, was arrested by the officials of the Marine and Preventive wing, who recovered 194 boxes packed with imported cigarettes such as Gudang Garam, Marlboro Lights and Super Kings Lights,” said an officer of customs, and added that Patel was remanded to judicial custody till January 7.

During interrogation, Patel stated that he was not aware of the import/smuggling of cigarettes, as he had given the IEC (Import Export Code) of one Dinesh Bandar for a monetary consideration of Rs5,000 per month. He had given pre-signed black documents to Bandar for carrying out import activities in the name of Boom Enterprises.

His defence lawyer Ravi Hirani, however, said, “My client has been cheated by Dinesh Bhandari and made a scapegoat by the officers.”

He added that his client is not a beneficiary of the illegal smuggling of the goods.

Describing the modus operandi, the officer said that the importer Patel used to conceal the smuggled goods in a roll of carpet and keep it behind the soft drink crates so as not to be detectable during the course of the normal examination of the container, said officer and added that the total customs duty involved works out to be more than Rs50 lakh.