Mumbai: Customs unearth duty evasion of over Rs 3.60 cr goods originated from Pakistan, in last ten days at Nhava Sheva port

In the past ten days, the Nhava Sheva customs department has managed to unearth duty evasion cases totaling over Rs 3.60 crores in five separate operations. In at least two cases, the goods had originated from Pakistan and point of origin was wrongly declared as UAE and Iran.

On January 05, officials of the Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (SIIB) (Import), on specific input developed through in-house data analytics, had intercepted one container (15.2 Metric Tonnes) with declared goods found grossly mis-declared in terms of quantity, weight, brand and value, found grossly undervalued to the extent of 12 times.

"Declared goods were assorted fabric chair cover, sofa cover, assorted MS Buttons, zipper sealing machine, bike horn automobile parts. The estimated duty evasion detected is Rs. 31 lakhs. Further investigation is underway," said a customs official.

He added, "During the first week of January, the customs officials had intercepted ten containers covered under three Bills of Entry of Dry Dates (284 MT) found to be originating from Pakistan (origin declared as UAE) with estimated duty evasion of Rs 1.53 crore. The said Containers were found with packing material showing Pakistan origin. Goods originating from Pakistan are liable for duty @ 200 percent basic customs duty."

The Customs officials said that on December 29, the officials had intercepted one container with declared goods as lifter hardware-accessories (27 MT) found grossly mis-declared in terms of brand, capacity and quality. The declared value found grossly undervalued to the extent of 15 times.

On December 28, the officials had intercepted five containers of Dry Dates (128 MT) found to be originating from Pakistan (origin declared as Iran, port of discharge as Jabel Ali), with estimated duty evasion of Rs 1 crore. On December 27, the officials had intercepted one container with declared goods as computer cabinets (23.82 MT) originating from UAE, found grossly mis-declared (e-waste, cosmetics, boxes of protein powder). The duty evasion in this case was to the tune of Rs 75 Lakh. officials said.