Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai, seized 69.26 lakh sticks of smuggled Indonesian Gudang Garam brand cigarettes, worth ₹6.92 crore, from a residential flat and a commercial godown at Bhiwandi on Friday.
Terming it as the first-of-its-kind seizure of cigarettes in the city outside Customs Area, DRI officials said the raid was based on specific intelligence. The cigarette packets were found to be printed with statutory warnings in English and Arabic, indicating that they were meant for the Middle East Asian market.
The caretakers of the godown and the flat admitted that the cigarettes had been smuggled in to India. The mastermind of the smuggling racket, however, is absconding, a statement issued by the DRI said.
