MAHARASHTRA: After seizing seven drones at Pune airport on September 30, customs officials traced down two illegal shops where these drones were to be transported and arrested two of the employees on Wednesday.
The arrested have been identified as Amit Takta, who works at M/s Webonise Pvt Ltd in Bavdhan and Vikas Kumar, who is an employee of M/s Heights Next. According to officials, both Takte and Kumar have been under the scanner for a while.
An official, on condition of anonymity, said, “Takta has been named as the drone pilot and has been arrested on the charge of importing drones of PrecisionHawk, Canada. Kumar has been arrested on charges of concealing and selling the drones. During the investigation, it was also found that HeightsNext is a benami company. The main accused is still absconding and his name is yet to be revealed. On Wednesday, another more drone imported for approximately Rs10 lakh and used by M/s Webonise in 2015 was also seized. It was smuggled in last year from Canada.”
“Both of them admitted that they were involved in the smuggling of drones and that they were forced to do so by the main accused. M/s HeightsNext was created only to conduct sales. The accused also admitted that Webonise Pvt Ltd is a fake store. Neither of the accused had absconded, but we waited till there was sufficient evidence before we arrested them,” the official added.
Officials from Pune customs seized seven ‘Precision Hawk-USA’ drones worth Rs 1.2 crore at Pune International Airport on September 30. Each of these is valued at Rs 20-25 lakh.
A senior official said, “The modus operandi was to import the machines in parts and then assemble them here. Each drone is equipped with high-end technology and is capable of swiftly completing surveillance of large areas. The end use of such high-tech drones by buyers is also being probed from the security angle.”
Both Takta and Kumar were arrested for unauthorised import of the drones, in direct violation of the Customs Act, 1962 and against the regulations of the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of the ministry of communications. As of now, the import and use of drones is restricted by law and deemed illegal without the necessary permits.
The Precision Hawk-USA is enabled to collect aerial data with a drone or satellite, upload data to the account and process 2D or 3D products, manage, collaborate, and share data with anyone and analyse data with a library of on-demand analysis tools.
