Dubai gang held, 27K cigarette sticks seized

BENGALURU : A three-member gang from Dubai was caught at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Monday smuggling 26,800 cigarette sticks and perfumes and soap bars totally valued at Rs 6.14 lakh in their check-in baggage. 

Earlier in the day, two others were caught with 166 grams of gold and 12,000 cigarette sticks. Similarly, three passengers were caught with 29,940 cigarette sticks on January 23.  A senior customs official said the three flyers, natives of Kasaragod, had reached Bengaluru by the same Fly Dubai flight (FZ 3007) at 3.30 pm. “Based on profiling and scanning, we found the items in the baggage they had given for check-in,” an official said. It appears as if they were operating together, the official added. 

The trio had departed from Calicut to Dubai on January 24 and had returned to Bengaluru the next day by this flight. Each of them had goods valued at a little over Rs 2 lakh. The worth of the cigarette sticks alone, all of the popular Benson & Hedges brand, stood at Rs 2,94,800. An international flyer is permitted a maximum of 100 cigarette sticks.  

The youngest of them, a 25-year-old passenger had goods with maximum value of Rs 2.1 lakh. “He had 8,800 sticks ... while the 34-year-old flyer and the 46-year-old flyer carried 9,000 cigarette sticks each in their baggage,” the official added.

A total of 312 packets of Faiza Beauty Cream, 141 bars of Silkha Whitening Herbal Soap and 144 packets of Goree Beauty Cream were also seized from the trio. “Carrying a few items of beauty products is allowed but in bulk is not allowed,” another official said.