Navi Mumbai: 1200 un-declared Chinese drones intercepted by Customs at Nhava Sheva port

The Nhava Sheva customs officials have intercepted a container from China with 1200 undeclared Drones. This is the first big detection of Drones since the imposition of prohibition in February 2022, the officials informed on Saturday.

According to the Customs officials, on specific input, the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) at the Nhava Sheva port had intercepted a 40 feet container from China with 1200 undeclared drones. "Other mis-declared goods inside the container were found to be toys and fuel pumps. The goods were mis-declared to avoid prohibition, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) circumvention and higher duty," said a Customs official, without divulging what was submitted as declared items as the import by the importer.

The Government of India has banned import of foreign drones with certain exceptions as part of efforts to promote domestic manufacturing of drones in the country. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the commerce and industry ministry has issued a notification banning the import of foreign drones last month.

Import policy for drones in CBU (Completely Built Up)/CKD (Completely Knocked Down)/SKD (Semi Knocked Down ) form is prohibited with exceptions provided for R and D, defence and security purposes subject to import authorisation issued by DGFT in consultation with concerned line ministries, an official stated.

In June 2018, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had seized 36 drones worth Rs 14.11 lakh at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, , which were being smuggled into the country, also known as Nhava Sheva.