Mumbai: DRI busts luxury car smuggling racket, 3 held

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence busted a luxury car smuggling racket in Gurugram that had caused a duty evasion of more than Rs 25 crore by smuggling 20 vehicles into India in the name of diplomats and diverting the same to private personsThree people including the CEO of the luxury car dealership were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said the press releaseOperation Monte Carlo was launched after DRI received a tipoff that a group of individuals was involved in smuggling highend luxury cars into India in the name of diplomats and diverting the same to private persons thereby evading a huge amount of Customs duty according to the press releaseIt is pertinent to note that the Government grants exemption from Customs duty to certain classes of members of Diplomatic Missions in India and their families members on all imported goods vide Notification No 0357 dated 08011957 The net Customs duty on import of cars works out to 20437 according to Regulation of Customs Privileges Rules 1957Upon receiving specific details of one such luxury car imported in the name of a Delhibased diplomat of an African nation DRI officers kept discreet watch over the vehicle after its arrival at the portThereafter this vehicle was loaded onto a transport vehicle and taken to a showroom in Andheri and placed for display DRI officers followed the vehicle and kept a discreet watch over the car all along Simultaneously in a carefully planned allIndia operation across seven cities searches were carried out at the premises of the key individuals involved in this racketA total of six cars have been detained under the provisions of the Customs Act 1962 More cars have been identified and are in the process of being locatedA Dubaibased individual who has been involved in past Customs offenses and has been investigated by DRI was the mastermind behind the racket He would arrange for the import of luxury cars into India from countries like the UK Japan and UAE in the names of diplomatsThe actual buyers for the vehicles would be identified by the CEO of a popular chain dealing in the sale of preowned luxury cars Upon arrival in India these vehicles would be directly ferried to the city of the buyer or a dealer of luxury carsThe domestic registration for these vehicles would be done in certain specific Regional Transport Offices RTOs in Maharashtra Himachal Pradesh and Punjab After the registration formalities were completed these cars on which full Customs duty 20437 was evaded would be sold to the Indian buyers thereby making a huge profit at the cost of Government revenueImports made by foreign diplomats and Missions in India are governed by the Foreign Privileged Persons Regulation of Customs Privileges Rules 1957 Motor cars are classifiable under chapter heading 8703 having a duty structure of Basic Customs Duty 12537 Integrated Goods and Services Tax 2837 and 125037 Social Welfare Surcharge The net Customs duty on import of cars works out to 20437 The Notification dated 08011957The detection of this racket has thus helped unearth a serious fraud reinforcing DRIs ability to detect and combat unique and sophisticated methods of smugglingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever