The seized cigarettes. (Express Photo) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday seized cigarettes of foreign brand, worth Rs 3.24 crore, concealed inside the covers of women’s footwear, at the Nhava Sheva port in Navi Mumbai.
Officials said that 18,00,000 Gudang Garam cigarette sticks were being illegally smuggled into India through an import container from Dubai. Following a tip-off, DRI officials had on Thursday intercepted a container at the port. They initially found boxes of women’s footwear but when scrutinised further, 18,00,000 cigarettes sticks were found concealed inside the shoes.
According to DRI officials, while no arrests have been made so far, they have received information on the suspects and the smugglers would be arrested soon.
Officials said that in order to evade arrest, the smugglers had used KYC documents of a person to obtain the import export code from DGFT (Director General of Foreign Trade), using which, the consignment was being smuggled in India via Nhava Sheva port.
“We have learnt that the cigarettes came from a port in Dubai. But we are trying to find out whether Dubai was a transit point for these smugglers or the cigarettes were imported from there,” said an official, adding that the smugglers have used such modus operandi in the past to smuggle cigarettes into the country.