Ludhiana: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Ludhiana, seized 10 containers of dry dates that were misdeclared as metal scrap at the inland container depot (ICD), Hind Terminals Private Limited (HTPL), Kila Raipur, on Saturday night.
Sources said the consignment valued at over Rs 1.25 crore had arrived from Dubai and the importer disguised dry dates as metal scrap to save heavy customs duty. The duty on scrap is in the range of 2.5-5% and on dates up to 200%.
Sources said the operation, which was held under the instructions of the additional director general (ADG) Nitin Saini, was codenamed as D3 (DRI-Dry-Dates).
Unlike the usual trend of misdeclaration in which the importers stuff the container with a portion of the declared goods, too, so as to mislead the inspecting authorities, in this case not a trace of the declared goods (scrap here) was found in the cargo.
Various teams of DRI, led by additional director GS Bains and deputy director Pankaj Dwivedi, had been working on this operation for the past few days and gathered all intelligence about the shipment and its movement was tracked ever since it left Dubai for India. The role of some customs officials, who cleared this cargo, is also under the scanner. Sources said they allowed the clearance without proper checking. After the cargo’s seizure, more searches were under way.
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail
Recent Comments