KUWAIT CITY: Directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) officials seized 92.28 lakh counterfeit gutkha pouches worth Rs 5.54 crore before they could be smuggled to Kuwait, where the tobacco product is banned. The market value of the seized counterfeit gutkha in Kuwait’s black market is around Rs 14 crore.
In this case, DRI- Delhi officials held one Salim Ismail Dola, mastermind of the smuggling racket, and Sanjay Prabhakar, a customs clearing agent.
DRI officials had received a tip-off that a 40-inch cube container comprising gutkha pouches, which got clearance from Interland Container Depot (ICD), Loni, was kept in a godown in Delhi from where it would be smuggled out of the country from Pipavav port. The DRI officials found 50.28 lakh pouches of gutkha worth Rs 3.02 crore from the Delhi-based godown. As the container arrived at Pipavav, DRI officials of Jamnagar seized 42 lakh more pouches of gutkha having a local market value of Rs 2.52 crore.
