Edited by Deepali Verma
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers seized a consignment of smuggled cigarettes valued at ₹5.77 crores at Nhava Sheva, agency officials informed on December 28.
As per the intelligence developed by the DRI, Mumbai, a refrigerated container of 40-feet arrived at Jawaharlal Nehru Port and was held at one of the Container Freight Stations (CFS) at Nhava Sheva. The inspection revealed cigarette cartons.
Upon a thorough examination that was conducted of the contents of the container revealed that cigarette cartons were ingeniously concealed within cardboard boxes containing tamarind which was the original item listed in the shipping documents.
“The placement of the cigarette cartons inside the tamarind boxes was done cleverly and covered on all sides with tamarind to render the cigarette cartons indiscernible even on opening the cardboard boxes,” informed a DRI official.
The smuggled cargo had a total of 33,92,000 cigarette sticks having a market value of approximately ₹5.77 crores. Further investigations into the case are in progress, officials said.
