HYDERABAD: The Customs’ Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) has impounded 22 smuggled cartons of Royal Business cigarettes along with a Suzuki Hi Roof vehicle during a raid on railway station Hyderabad during the first week of April 2017. The market value of the seized cigarettes is Rs575000 involving duty taxes of Rs 385000.
Sources told Customs Today that Collector Agha Shahid Majeed Khan received a tip-off that non-duty paid cigarettes and other items were being smuggled.
He constituted a team under the supervision of Additional Collector Rehmatullah Vistro.
The ASO team intercepted the said Suzuki with registration No: CE- 3804 near railway station Hyderabad and recovered 22 foreign origin cartons,1100 cartons of Royal Business cigarettes worth Rs275000 involving duty taxes of Rs385000 and a Suzuki Hi Roof valued Rs300000.
The ASO team asked the driver of the vehicle to produce legal documents regarding the import and possession of items but he failed to prove anything. The authorities impounded the contrabands and registered a case. Additional Collector Rehmatullah Vistro said the department is striving to increase the surveillance of suspects in the region for which more check-posts have been established in the area.