Based on
specific information that Areca Nuts in huge quantity are being illicitly
imported into India from Jebel Ali, Dubai and Singapore in containers by
mis-declaring the goods as “Compounded Animal Feed” and Barley,
through Tuticorin and Chennai port, totally
five containers (2 containers at Tuticorin port and 3 containers at Chennai
Port) were intercepted and taken up for investigation. On examination of
the said containers, it was found that the gunny bags stacked in the first two
rows contained the declared cargo “Compounded
Animal Feed” as well as “Barley” and the remaining gunny bags
contained “Areca Nuts”.
The total quantity of 114.372 MTs of
smuggled Areca Nuts totally valued at Rs. 8.61 crore along with the cover cargo viz., Compounded
Animal Feed and Barley were seized under the Customs Act, 1962 for violating
the provisions of the Customs Act. The goods of Areca Nuts are classifiable
under CTH 08028020 which attracts Customs Duty @ 100% on the prevailing tariff
value of $9093/MT and hence, in order to evade payment of appropriate Customs
duty, the gang attempted to smuggle the Areca Nuts by way of concealment in the
guise of ‘Compounded Animal Feed’ and ‘Barley’.
The preliminary investigation
revealed that the import of all 05 containers were arranged by a person from
Chennai. Swift
follow up action initiated, led to apprehension of the said king pin who has
arranged smuggling of all the consignments by way of concealment. He was
arrested and remanded to Judicial Custody.
Further,
DRI Chennai Zonal Unit had earlier seized 232.349MTs of Areca Nut, valued
Rs.11.72 crore concealed along with various cover goods and imported from
Indonesia in the last few months. In the financial year 2022-23, about 3670.19
MT of areca nuts valued at Rs 143 crore has been seized by the various units of
DRI.
Busting of such a huge racket of
Areca Nut smuggling by DRI, not only saved the revenue of public exchequer, but
also safeguarded the interest of domestic industry especially of those farmers,
cultivators and traders whose livelihoods are entirely dependent on Areca Nut
business.