Category: Custom

Under Operation Cheque Shirts, using data analytics, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence developed specific intelligence on two passengers intending to smuggle foreign currency outside India. DRI officers intercepted these two passengers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, in the early hours of 26^th November, 2021.  They were scheduled to travel to Sharjah. Examination of their baggage yielded foreign currency in the form of US Dollars and Saudi Dirhams, valued at Rs 3.7 crore.

The foreign currency was found concealed deep in ingeniously designed false bottoms of the carry-on luggage. The mode and manner of concealment would have made the detection difficult in ordinary baggage scans.

The two intercepted passengers had no documents for the illicit possession or for legal export of the said foreign currency. The foreign currency recovered from these passengers has been seized in terms of Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962. Further investigations in the matter are on.

Besides amounting to “smuggling” in terms of the Customs Act, illicit export of foreign currency provides a means for laundering proceeds of unlawful and criminal activities. Further, it also poses a grave threat to national economy and national security.

DRI maintains an active vigil and operational readiness to check the smuggling of foreign currency, gold, narcotics and other contraband goods into and out of India. This was the fourth such case of large foreign currency seizure at an international airport, in the last one and a half months.

Scaling up its fight against the drug smugglers and syndicates, Customs officers at IGI Airport, New Delhi in yet another successful operation seized a cumulative quantity of 12.9 Kg of Heroin from two Ugandan Nationals who had arrived from Nairobi (Kenya) via Abu Dhabi during the intervening night of 12^th and 13^th November 2021. The value of the seized Narcotic is approximately pegged at Rs 90 Crore as per the prevailing International prices.

The narcotic and the smugglers had passed through several jurisdictions including Uganda, Kenya and India, before being intercepted. The said heroin was concealed in the false bottom of their check-in luggage.

A total of 12.900 Kg of crystalline heroine was recovered from two lady Ugandan Passengers, from their three suitcases.

The baggage of the passengers was also sniffed by the canines of the Dog Squad of the Indian Customs stationed at the Delhi Airport and the canine indicated the presence of some narcotic substance in the baggage. On detailed personal and baggage search and questioning, the lady passengers admitted to having brought the heroine in their checked in baggage by ingeniously concealing the Heroin in the specially made cavities beneath the fake layer of fibre-plastic base on both the sides of the suitcases. It was vacuum packed in plastic and paper bags containing crystalline form of off-white-coloured powder/granules of Heroin.

During the questioning, one of the lady passengers revealed that she was introduced to a Kenyan national, who had promised her money in exchange of delivery of certain goods in Delhi. Thus, on this invite, the lady passenger travelled to Nairobi from Kampala by road where the Kenyan handed over a bag to be delivered in Delhi while also providing tickets and certain documents to cover her visit as a Medical tourist. She was supposed to deliver the goods to a person who would contact her on exit. When she was intercepted by Customs officials, she was found to be in possession of a bag with a false bottom/cavity where 5.4 kg of Heroin was concealed.

The other female passenger was also intercepted in the same flight in almost similar manner wherein she was found to be in possession of two bags with false bottom/cavity containing cumulative of 7.5 kg of concealed heroin. During her preliminary questioning, the lady passenger revealed that she was sent by her sister from Kampala to Nairobi by road and from there to Delhi via Abu Dhabi by the aforementioned flight. This passenger was also possessing certain documents to fake the profile of a medical tourist.

The success against the drug smuggling menace comes in the wake of earlier seizure of approx. 3 kg of heroin recovered from a Kenyan National who had arrived in the intervening night of 28^th and 29^th October 2021 from Nairobi via Sharjah. Before also, on 23.04.2021, two Indian nationals who were coming from Uganda were intercepted with 2 kg of heroin wherein investigation resulted into identification of 3 more accused persons who are based out of Uganda.

In this calendar year, the Delhi Customs have seized more than 100 kg of heroin. More than 26 persons have been arrested. Given the spurt in the attempts to smuggle in narcotics through the passenger route, Indian Customs have heightened the scrutiny and checking of suspects through robust intelligence gathering mechanism and pin pointed profiling at all the international airports. Customs department is at the forefront of crusade against the drugs smuggling and syndicates. In September this year, a huge consignment of 3000 kg of heroin were seized at Mundra port.

CBIC launches online digital application for scheduling of examination of cargo for traders at ICD Tughlakabad, Delhi

ICD Tuglakabad’s initiative will improve logistics efficiency of industry by launching Customs clearance work on Sundays and all public holidays

Customs at ICD Tuglakabad also inaugurates Baggage Scanner for non-intrusive examination of unaccompanied baggage/palletized import Cargo

As a major push in technology and digitalisation, Delhi Customs Zone took three important initiatives today.

An online facility for scheduling examination of Import cargo with the aim of minimising physical interface of trade with Customs and other stakeholders was launched. It is multi-stakeholder application where Customs, CONCOR, Customs brokers and importers on the same platform having a shared view of scheduling examination of goods.  This initiative will ensure fullest transparency alongside of convenience for trade and other stakeholders.

Customs at ICD Tuglakabad also inaugurated a Baggage Scanner, which will result in non-intrusive examination of unaccompanied baggage/palletized import Cargo while ensuring swifter clearances. This will also help Customs in targeted intervention to check smuggling. Few days earlier an electronic tracking of containerised cargo through use of Smart locks and an application built on Blockchain technology was launched. This enables customs to monitor and track movement of non-duty paid goods through GPS tracking while reducing compliance burden on trade in terms of documentation.

In another first, ICD Tuglakabad has taken the initiative of improving the logistics efficiency of industry by launching Customs clearance work on Sunday and all public holidays. This facility at ICD TKD is being implemented w.e.f. 14.11.2021 (Sunday) with work hours between 9:30 am to 6:00 pm. In this regard, Public Notice No. 34/2021 and Public Notice no. 04/2021 both dated 10.11.2021 has been issued by the Offices of Pr. Commissioner of Customs (Import) and Commissioner of Customs (Export), ICD-Tughlakabad (Import), New Delhi respectively.

ICD Tughlakabad (TKD) since 1993, at its present location, was the second Land port to be set up in the country after Bangalore in 1983. It caters to the need of importers and exporters and is the biggest inland dry port of North India. This port handles around 2,50,000 TEUs of Exim Cargo and is well connected with four full length rail lines to Gateway ports such as Mumbai, Nhava Sheva, Chennai, Mundra etc. besides bringing the containers by road from other ports such as Ludhiana, Haldia, Calcutta and Kandla, etc. ICD TKD is equipped with most modern facilities such as rail mounted gantry of 40 metric empty lifting capacity, rubber tire diesel powered cranes, billoties and lift trucks, etc.  along with two covered sheds, one for import and another for export with a total area of 16,000 sq. mts. in the Customs  bonded area for stuffing and de-stuffing of Exim goods. With these ultra-modern facilities, ICD-TKD, New Delhi, has developed into the largest multi-modal centre in the Indian sub-continent.

Special Secretary & Member (I.T. & Taxpayer services), Shri Sandeep Kumar, Shri Surjit Bhujbal, Chief Commissioner, Delhi Customs Zone along with other senior officers from ICD Tughlakabad, Parpargunj, Air Cargo Complex, Airport, Audit, Appeals and DG Systems graced the occasion.

Providing relief to custodians of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and Container Freight Stations (CFSs) across the country, the CBIC today streamlined the procedure of closure of these facilities in maximum of four months only. No timeline was specified earlier.

ICDs and CFS play a vital role in the exim trade as they store and clear import and export goods. These facilities are notified under the Customs Act, 1962 and are administered by the Customs authorities. However, at times a custodian may like to close (de-notify) the facility. The disposal of un-cleared, seized and confiscated goods import/export are prerequisites for the de-notification. The CBIC noted that this process was taking a long time which caused difficulties for the custodians. 

The newly issued Circular No. 20/2021-Customs dated 16.08.2021 requires a custodian intending to wind up the operation to submit an application to jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Customs for de-notifying the ICD/CFS. A Nodal Officer at the level of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs would then facilitate the de-notification by coordinating the disposal of the goods lying at the facility in a time bound manner.

The new procedure would ensure undue cost and time over runs are avoided. Importantly, the de-notification shall be completed within a maximum of four months from the date of receipt of complete application. This is yet another trade facilitation initiative by CBIC.

Ministry of Finance Press Release dated 17th Aug 2021

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Government is committed for promoting Indian exports in international markets and suitable interventions are done from time to time. The key schemes/interventions taken are:

1. The Foreign Trade Policy has been extended upto 30.09.2021 to provide a stable regime during the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. Schemes such as the Advance Authorization Scheme and the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme are being implemented to enable duty free import of raw materials and capital goods for export production.
3. The Interest Equalization Scheme, which provides pre and post shipment Rupee export credit has been extended upto 30.09.2021.
4. Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme has been operationalized for exports with effect from 01.01.2021.
5. It has been decided to extend the Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes (RoSCTL) Scheme for apparel and made-up exports till March 2024.
6. Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme for specified agriculture products provides assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce and to promote brand recognition for Indian agricultural products in the specified overseas markets.
7. A common digital platform for Certificate of Origin (CoO) has been launched to increase Free Trade Agreement (FTA) utilization by exporters. 
8. In order to leverage the full export potential of our vast country,  Districts are being promoted as Exports Hubs by identifying products and services with export potential in each district, addressing bottlenecks for exporting these products/services and supporting such local exporters/manufactures through institutional and strategic interventions. District specific export action plans for 478 districts have been prepared.
9. Exports of services is being supported through negotiating meaningful market access through multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements, through participation in and organization of international fairs/exhibitions like the Global Exhibition on Services. An ‘Action Plan for Champion Sectors in Services’ is being developed  to give focused attention to identified Champion Services Sectors through  identified nodal Ministries/Departments
10. Assistance is being extended to exporters under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme for various activities such as export market research & product development, product registration, organizing / participating in fairs, exhibitions and Buyer Seller Meets (BSMs) abroad, Reverse Buyer Seller Meets etc.
11. In order to have a coordinated and focused attention on development of export infrastructure, a working group on infrastructure up-gradation has been constituted under National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) and a National Trade Facilitation Action Plan (NTFAP) has been formulated. This includes measures for improving road and rail connectivity to ports and smart gates at sea ports.

Government is continuously engaged in strengthening Indian industry through “ease of doing business” for improving the business environment and attracting foreign investments.

To make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and to create global champions in manufacturing,Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes in 13 sectors are being implemented. The Government has initiated a review of some of the existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to maximize its export potential to benefit domestic industry as well as to make them more user friendly, simple and trade facilitative. In addition, bilateral trade negotiations have been initiated with a number ofcountries.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Ministryof Commerce & Industry Press Release dated 04th Aug 2021