NEW DELHI: A racket of smuggling foreign-made cigarettes into India by furnishing documents in the names of fictitious companies and forging signatures of customs officials was busted by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials.
While six persons connected to the racket were arrested, 8.5 lakh cigarettes of ‘Djarum Black’ brand made abroad – worth Rs.51 lakh – were seized at the Air Cargo complex at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad.
DRI Additional Director General, Hyderabad zonal unit, M.K. Singh, said in a press release that already members of the gang managed to smuggle out cigarettes of this brand, worth Rs. 90 lakh, from the air cargo complex earlier.
The racket was busted following inputs from the intelligence network of the DRI officials. Investigations confirmed that a gang smuggled the cigarettes from Dubai claiming them as engineering goods, paper machine spares and computer parts to the country.
The racketeers created fake identity cards and authorisation letters in the name of fictitious companies and persons along with fabricated manual bills of entry forging signatures of customs officials. The arrested persons were presented before the Special Judge for Economic Offences. They were remanded in judicial custody.
