Police bust foreign cigarette smuggling racket

The Hyderabad Police busted illegal smuggling of foreign cigarettes in the country, on learning that the cigarettes were being smuggled into the city through trains.

According to officials of the Commissioner’s Task Force, cigarettes from Bangladesh are entering the country and being transported across India through the railway network. On Monday, officials who were tipped off about one such consignment arriving at Nampally Railway station, arrested a man who was operating out of Begum Bazar. The accused, Ajaz Ali Raza, was at the railway station to receive the consignment worth over ₹ 19 lakh.

Upon interrogation, the man revealed that the consignment had arrived from New Delhi but was originally sourced from Bangladesh. After it reaches the city, Raza would distribute the cigarettes to various outlets for sale. “These cigarettes were being imported without paying customs duty and thus were causing a loss to the government. That apart, they do not carry pictorial warnings about the ill- effects of cigarettes on health,” a police official informed.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/police-bust-foreign-cigarette-smuggling-racket/article19493746.ece