Mumbai: DRI seizes foreign cigarettes worth Rs 4.75 cr

Mumbai:

The Mumbai unit of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized a consignment of foreign cigarettes worth over Rs 4.75 crore from a container freight station near Nhava Sheva port, an official said on Sunday.

The stock, comprising 21.60 lakh cigarettes, was being smuggled into the country as part of an import consignment arriving from Dubai in the Middle East, he said.

The stock was concealed behind wallets, which was the declared cargo, and was being brought into the country using an importer-exporter code (IEC) that was obtained by misusing KYC documents, the official informed.

This was the fifth major haul, comprising three from ICD Jhattipur near Panipat in Haryana and two from JNPT near here, in the last two months by the Mumbai unit of DRI, said a release.

The cumulative worth of the five seizures was Rs 30 crore, it added.