Cartons of foreign cigarettes worth Rs. 1.44 crore were seized by sleuths attached to Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), reliable sources told The Hindu here on Thursday. In a crackdown, the contraband was seized from a container kept in the container freight station in Thoothukudi on Wednesday night.
Such cigarettes were said to be manufactured in Indonesia. Investigations revealed that these cartons of cigarettes were shipped from Dubai a couple of days ago and were about to be imported by a company at G. Kollam in Kozhikode, Kerala. The contraband was concealed behind gypsum board in the container. The cargo of 514 pieces of gypsum board was actually declared by the importer. In a bid to evade heavy duty on foreign cigarettes, such acts of smuggling was carried out.
Three persons suspected to have been involved in this were picked up for interrogation, sources said. Earlier in February this year, 180 cartons of foreign cigarettes were seized by the DRI sleuths here.
