Chennai: Gold worth Rs 52.5 lakh seized by customs.
Chennai: Customs officials at the Chennai international airport on Saturday detected three cases of gold smuggling, and one case of smuggling of saffron, cigarettes and mobile phones and watches worth Rs 52.5 lakh.
Officials said on Saturday morning that AIU officials intercepted Rawther Naina (25) and Pakkeer Mohamed (25) from Ramanathapuram, who had arrived from Singapore by Air India Express flight. Later in the day, Mohamed Abdul (25) also from Ramanathapuram, who had arrived from Dubai via Colombo by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight was intercepted on suspicion of carrying gold on their person.
On intense questioning, all three admitted to having concealed gold in the form of rubbery material in their rectum. As many as 937 grams of gold valued at Rs 36.51 lakh were recovered and seized under the provisions of Customs Act 1962.
In another case, Zakir Hussain (24) of Sivaganga, who arrived from Dubai via Colombo by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight was intercepted. As he appeared to be nervous, the examination of his checked-in baggage was carried out.
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NFR’s STF team seizes foreign origin cigarettes worth Rs 5.5 lakh.
A Special Task Force (STF) of Commercial Department of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) recovered foreign origin cigarettes worth Rs. 5.5 lakh being transported illegally in an express train at Guwahati Railway Station recently.
The train from which the smuggled foreign-made cigarettes were recovered was 15646 Guwahati-Lokmanya Tilak Terminas Express.
Acting on specific information, the STF team led by assistant commercial manager D.J. Barman, conducted search in the train at Guwahati Railway Station leading to recovery of the contraband items, informed NFR chief public relations officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma.
“The team apprehended five persons for trying to transport the goods with false declaration in the Parcel Way Bill,” Sharma informed on Tuesday.
Commercial department had for the first time in Northeast Frontier Railway formed the Special Task Force (STF) on August 13, 2019 as a part of a special initiative for clean and transparent working.
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Foreign brand cigarettes seized from Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express.
PATNA: Joint teams of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Railway Protection Force on Monday night seized a huge consignment of foreign brand cigarettes from Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express at Patliputra junction.
Acting on a tip-off, the joint team raided the SLR van of the express train (12423 Dibrugarh-NDLS Rajdhani express).
Inspector General of RPF Ravindra Verma said, “On receiving a memo from the regional unit of DRI, officers of RPF post recovered 10 packages containing cigarettes from a Paris-based company, the estimated value of which is Rs 37,50,000. The DRI officials will take further legal action.”
The consignment was smuggled from Myanmar to New Delhi through an active racket.
Earlier this year in January, foreign-brand cigarettes of estimated market value of Rs 36 lakh was seized at the same Patliputra junction.
Lear MorePossible terror subtext in recent Gujarat drug busts
Rising pressure on drug traffickers to push surplus opium production in Afganistan — processed into heroin in Pakistan — via sea route.
At least two seizures of heroin — 100 and 200 kg each — since the beginning of this year and a few smaller tranches later have put the security agencies on high alert in Gujarat. The estimated market price of 300 kg of heroin could be anything between Rs 1,200 crore and Rs 1500 crore
While the 1600-km long coastline of Gujarat had always been exploited by the smugglers in the past, the current haul indicates a more sinister geopolitical development, that has not only prompted the state anti-terror apparatus and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to move in, but ET has reliably learnt it has attracted the attention of the US investigative agencies as well.
A senior official in one of the agencies now monitoring the developments maintained on the condition of anonymity that with huge surplus production of opium in Afganistan, which is processed into heroin in Pakistan, there is a growing pressure on the narco traders to increase their supply through the sea route.
“While LoC remains too hot for such adventures, the vigil along the international border in Punjab and Rajasthan has also been heightened, leaving the sea route as the preferred zone for the smugglers,” said the official. He also said that with the Combined Task Force-150 (a multinational coalition of naval task force) maintaining a strong vigil over the Strait of Hormuz, Gujarat coast becomes an obvious choice for the Af-Pak narco-traffickers.
In the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from Afganistan coupled with Pakistan’s enhanced belligerence over Kashmir, observers feel that the traffic would only increase in the days to come as the narco-economy is the principal feeder for terror groups operating in the Af-Pak region.
The use of Gujarat coastline as part of the transit route for the contraband has also raised concern among the agencies because if the terror network is being rebuilt, it can be exploited to push in arms and explosives into the country.
Lear MoreFake spare parts’ growth beats auto sales.
CHENNAI: The Rs 22,000-crore counterfeit auto parts industry — growing faster than car and bike sales, and which doubled in the last five years — is giving headaches to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). They are now hoping that the draft rules to eradicate spurious spares, which were notified in July, will get operational soon.
According to the Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA), the overall counterfeit product industry in India is worth Rs 1 lakh crore, causing the government tax losses of Rs 40,000 crore. While fake products are common in agriculture (fertilisers and pesticides) or even FMCG, they are life-threatening in the automotive and pharmaceutical industry, said ASPA president Nakul Pasricha.
“Counterfeiting is a huge problem in the auto parts after-market segment,” said Pasricha. “The total auto after-market in 2018-19 grew by 9.6% to Rs 67,491 crore ($10 billion) from Rs 61,601 crore ($9 billion) in the previous fiscal. Counterfeit auto components account for 30-40% of the overall after-market for components in retail outlets.”
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Is your anti-counterfeiting strategy up to scratch?
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Couple caught with undeclared foreign currency worth Rs1 crore at Mumbai airport.
The couple were caught with USD worth Rs 20.34 lakh and UK Pounds worth Rs 80.76 lakh. AIU suspects that the couple was part of a professional smuggling racket.
The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) on Tuesday intercepted an Indian couple, who were flying to Bangkok, with undeclared foreign currency worth Rs 1 crore at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
Nagpada residents Rayyan Thakur, 29, and his wife Afren Thakur, 28, were caught with US Dollars worth Rs 20.34 lakh and UK Pounds worth Rs 80.76 lakh. AIU suspects that the couple was part of a professional smuggling racket.
The couple, currently in judicial custody, has been charged under relevant sections of the Customs Act; Passport Act; Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999; and Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import Currency) regulation 2000.
“The foreign currencies had been concealed with thick plastic covers over the trolley bags’ base. During interrogation, they told officers that they had collected the bag from one Adnan Shaikh in Bhendi Bazaar. Shaikh allegedly told them that the bag would be collected by a man in Bangkok. They were to be given Rs 12,000 for this exchange,” said an AIU official.
Lear MoreFICCI CASCADE Inter-School Competition on ZERO Evasion – ‘Fight Against Counterfeiting and Smuggling, New Delhi
07/08/2019| New Delhi
With the unrelenting growth of illicit trade through counterfeiting and smuggling, FICCI CASCADE has been continuously campaigning against these activities. However, as the problem of counterfeiting and smuggling has led to more financial, economic and social crisis, it is our continuous endeavour to revisit, rethink and test new approaches in addressing this socio-economic challenge.
India has a young population profile and is set to be the youngest country by 2020. The youth of India being the country’s future, it becomes imperative to understand the power tomorrow’s consumers. With youngsters becoming a key stakeholder for advocating socially responsible behaviour, FICCI CASCADE believes that it is important to bring them on board the awareness campaign and through them influence the society as a whole. We believe that an idea planted in their minds can become an instrument of change.
FICCI CASCADE has initiated a youth movement across the country to spread awareness among the young minds and seek their support to underpin the fight against counterfeiting and smuggling. Such a campaign has offered an opportunity to bring in more people, particularly youngsters to push forward its actions to curb the ensuing menace.
In order to pick the brains of the young school children and inspire the youth to take required actions to discourage and stop the purchase of fake, spurious and smuggled goods, FICCI CASCADE organised an Interschool Meet on the subject, where over 350 students from 50 leading schools from Delhi and NCR and few from other states as well competed against each other in three categories of competitions, namely, Painting, Elocution and Creative Writing, on the theme “Zero- Evasion: Fight Counterfeiting and Smuggling” on 6th August 2019 in FICCI, New Delhi. The programme was also supported by FICCI ARISE (Alliance for re-imagining School Education).
The contest witnessed enthusiastic and active participation from students, most of whom were very impressive in expressing their concern on the need to curb such illegal trade practices. The competitions provided a unique platform to the young minds to express their views through their oratory and creative talent on diverse themes like “Young India Says No to Counterfeiting and Smuggling”, “Terrorism Financing through Smuggling”, “India: A Victim of Smuggling”, “India’s Brand Integrity at Stake due to Counterfeiting and Smuggling” etc.
The competitions were judged by Mr. P. K Malhotra, Former Secretary of Law and Justice, Govt. of India, Mr. Sanjeev Tripathi, Former Chief of RAW, Mr. Hem Pande, Former Secretary, Consumer Affairs, GOI, Mr. Deep Chand, Former Special Commissioner of Police, New Delhi and Mr. P. C. Jha, Advisor, FICCI CASCADE & Former Special Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC),
The winners in the competitions were as follows:
| # | Name of the Competition | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Consolation |
| 1 | Elocution Competition | Mannat Arora
Class XII-C Blue Bells Model School, Gurgaon
|
Khyati Pareek
Class: XII-E School: Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh
|
Vidhi Bisht
Class: XII School: Nehru World School
Bhavya Pokhriyal Class: XII School: Queen’s Valley School, Dwarka
|
|
| 2 | Painting Competition | Supriya Baital
Class: X-C School: Birla Vidya Niketan, Pushpa Vihar
|
Vismit Kaur
Class: XI-D School: Spingdales School, Pusa Road
Shreyas Class: IX-D School: St. Columba’s School, Ashok Place
|
Pranav Sharma
Class: IX-A School: Don Bosco School Alaknanda
Pratishtha Dinkar Class: X-A School: Arvind Gupta DAV Centenary Public School
Shreya Mishra Class: XII School: The Future Kids School Hyderabad |
|
| 3 | Creative Writing Competition | Devanshi Yadav
School: Ryan International School, Vasant kunj
|
Bhumika Aggarwal
Class: X School: Mount Abu Public School, Rohini
|
Arunima Mehta
Class: XII-C School: Lilawati Vidhya Mandir Sr. Sec School, Shakti Nagar
Anuushka Sharan
School: Laxman Public School, Hauzkhas
|
Navdha
Class: XI-A School: Darbari Lal DAV Model School, Shalimar Bagh
|
Through the competitions not only did all witness the skills and creative abilities of the school children, but also visible was the passion in them to bring about a change in the society by shunning fake products and saying no to smuggled goods.
To reiterate, awareness generation is extremely crucial in bringing change in attitudes from considering counterfeiting and smuggling activities as victimless crime to the realization that it entails grave risks, both social and economic. A pro-active and preventative approach and strategy is the need of the hour to curb the twin menace. Several steps are being taken by FICCI CASCADE and the government to create large-scale awareness among the most impacted segment of this menace: the consumer. This youth awareness initiative was one of a series of such events to be organised across the country as part of a nation-wide awareness campaign to highlight the issue and focus on the growing menace of illicit trade.
3 held for smuggling gold, foreign currency at IGIA.
Delhi Customs officials have arrested three persons for allegedly trying to smuggle gold and foreign currency in separate incidents in national Capital on Saturday.
In first incident, two persons including an Air India and SATS (Singapore Airport Terminal Services) employee for their alleged involvement in smuggling gold bars worth over Rs 26 lakh at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. While in another incident, a Bangkok bound passenger was nabbed at IGI for allegedly trying to illegally export foreign currency equivalent to over Rs 42 lakh concealed in his check-in baggage.
In first incident, according to a senior Customs official, on Saturday, a passenger arrived at the Terminal-3 of IGI Airport by an Air India Flight. “He was intercepted by the customs officials at the multilevel car parking and brought to the arrival hall along with his baggage,” said the senior Customs official.
“During search, four gold bars weighing 466 grams worth Rs 15,03,277 was recovered. Besides, he had handed over three gold bars weighing 350 grams worth Rs 11,29,071 to the Air India SATS’ Passenger Service Assistant,” said the senior Customs official.
Lear MoreUP: Liquor worth Rs 1 crore seized, six men arrested for smuggling it to Bihar.
AGRA: A gang involved in liquor smuggling to Bihar was busted by Sadar police of Agraand seized Rs 1 crore worth liquor.
According to the police, six men were arrested with 861 carton (nearly 11,000 litres) of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) along with a pick-up truck. The nabbed men were identified as Shiv Soni, Arif, Sohail, Shyamsundar, Shahrukh and Gaurav.
Kamlesh Kumar Singh, station house officer of Sadar said, “After a long chase, the gang was nabbed near Saudagar Line. During interrogation, the gang claimed, that they smuggle liquor of various brand into Bihar from Haryana, as there is a sky rocketing demand of liquor due to ban.”
“The other gang members were arrested with smuggled liquor in Bihar, Chandauli (UP) and Agra earlier. At present, four members of the gang are absconding who were identified as Praveen Shivhare, Vinod Jadaun, Anwar and Surendra Khatik,” he added.
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