Mumbai: DRI seizes cigarettes worth Rs 3.24 crore smuggled from Dubai

Pic via Vishal Singh

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai zone officials, on January 7, have seized foreign brand cigarettes worth around Rs. 3.24 crores being smuggled into the country from Dubai.

Reportedly, the 18, 00,000 sticks of foreign brand cigarettes were concealed in a container with ladies footwear.

The DRI officials told that they had received special information about this consignment. They added that the consignment was being exported in the name of a person whose KYC documents were fraudulently misused to obtain Import Export Code from DGFT, DRI.

Smuggling of cigarettes is a very serious offence as not only the Government loses huge tax revenue but also the smuggled cigarettes do not carry the mandatory statutory warning on the packets, thereby, defeating the public awareness statutory requirements as per law.