The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Mumbai, has seized 1.2 crore sticks of foreign origin cigarettes with an estimated market value of Rs 24 crore and arrested five persons including an importer for allegedly trying to smuggle them, the DRI said on Sunday.
These cigarettes are banned for import into India due to their non-compliance with Indian standards, the DRI said in a release.
Based on specific intelligence, the cigarettes were seized from a container which was supposed to be trans-shipped to Arshiya Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) for further clearance, it said.
The DRI officials maintained a discrete vigil on the container's movement.
It was found that after the container left the Nhava Sheva Port in Navi Mumbai, instead of reaching its destination, the same was diverted to a private godown while it was enroute to Arshiya FTWZ. The DRI officials then intercepted the container at the godown, the release said.
The entire 40-feet container was found to be stuffed with foreign-origin cigarettes which are banned for import into India due to their non-compliance with Indian standards, it said.
The syndicate had planned to smuggle the cigarettes by removing them out of the container and replacing the same with goods declared in import documents in order to hoodwink customs authorities, the release said.
The godown was already stocked with the declared goods which were supposed to be stuffed in the container after removing the cigarettes, before the container was taken into Arshiya FTZ.
A total of 1.07 crore sticks of foreign origin cigarettes of various brands were recovered from the container, the DRI said.
In a swift follow-up operation, another stash of 13 lakh cigarettes of foreign origin which were smuggled earlier by the same syndicate were seized from another godown, the release added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
53.64 Lakh Foreign-Brand Cigarette Sticks Worth Rs 8 Crore Seized In Mumbai, 2 Arrested Import Of Cigarette Lighters Under Rs 20 Prohibited By Government Gold Worth Rs 6.2 Crore Seized At Mumbai Airport, 4 Arrested "Government Can't Take Over...": Big Supreme Court Order On Private Property "Can We Castigate...": An Objection To Chief Justice's Remark On Past Judge "Will Have To Stop Somewhere": Sharad Pawar's Big Retirement Hint Energy Giant Saudi Aramco Records 15% Profit Drop, Cites Low Oil Prices Equatorial Guinea Civil Servant Under Scanner Over Hundreds Of Sex Tapes ISRO To Launch Proba-3 Sun Observation Mission In December: Union Minister Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.