Foreign cigarettes worth ₹24cr seized during DRI raids in Nhava Sheva

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 1.2 crore foreign origin cigarettes sticks valued at Rs24 crore from a consignment heading to Special Economic Zone at the Free Trade Warehouse in Nhava Sheva. DRI sleuths intercepted the consignment enroute to Arshiya FTWZ at Sai, Nhava Sheva, to be substituted with other goods and smuggled for sale into the open market. The revenue department arrested five accused. Free Trade Warehousing Zone is an SEZ for trading and warehousing activities. It is a deemed foreign territory within the geography of India. 

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.