Navi Mumbai: Smuggled Cigarettes Worth ₹5.7 Crore Seized By DRI At Nhava Sheva

The officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have seized a consignment of smuggled cigarettes valued at ₹5.77 crores at Nhava Sheva, agency officials informed on Thursday.

Based on intelligence developed by the DRI, Mumbai, a 40-feet refrigerated container that arrived at Jawaharlal Nehru Port was held at one of the Container Freight Stations (CFS) at Nhava Sheva.

Inspection revealed cigarette cartons

A thorough examination of the contents of the container revealed that cigarette cartons were ingeniously concealed within cardboard boxes containing tamarind which was the item declared in the shipping documents.

"The cigarette cartons had been placed inside the tamarind boxes and cleverly covered on all sides with tamarind such as to render the cigarettes cartons indiscernible even on opening the cardboard boxes," said a DRI official.

The smuggled cargo comprised of 33,92,000 cigarette sticks with a market value of approximately ₹5.77 crores. Further investigations into the case are in progress, officials said.