Category: Custom

On 12.01.2022, one Indian passenger, who arrived at T-3, IGI Airport, New Delhi from Ras AI Khanimah International Airport UAE by Flight No. SG753 dated 12.01.2022, was intercepted by the Customs Officers of IGI Airport.

The Customs officers recovered 24 (Twenty four)  pieces of silver plated cylindrical shaped of gold totally weighing 175 grams having tariff value Rs. 7,65,089/-(Rupees Seven Lakh Sixty Five thousand Eighty Nine only) and FICN (Fake Indian Currency Notes) of  face value Rs. 10,00,000/- ( Rupees Ten Lakhs Only) (2,000 notes of denomination 500)  from the pax. In follow up, one Indian national was also intercepted who was supposed to receive the passenger at the arrival gate of the IGI Airport, New Delhi.

The said recovered 24 (Twenty four)  pieces of silver plated cylindrical shaped of gold totally weighing 175 grams and FICN of face value Rs.10,00,000/- were concealed by the pax in his trolley bags and the same were seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962, on 12.01.2022. The pax and his receiver have been placed under arrest in terms of Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962. Further investigation is under progress. NIA has also been intimated and they have joined the investigation.

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.