Based on specific intelligence input, the officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Guwahati Zonal Unit, intercepted two ten-wheeler trucks near a godown at Nalapara in Guwahati and seized 32,04,000 sticks of cigarettes of foreign origin.
Further search in the godown also led to recovery of 6,000 kg of foreign origin black pepper.
Dr T. Yhome, Assistant Director, DRI, Guwahati Zonal Unit, in a statement said that “the goods had been smuggled into India through the porous Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh in Manipur and was carried to Guwahati and stockpiled here”.
The entire consignment of cigarettes of Korean and Indonesian origin valued at Rs 5,59,98,000 was seized along with 6000 Kg of black pepper.
“The two carrier vehicles, which were exclusively being used for carrying smuggled cigarettes and black pepper, were also seized and a case has been booked under various provisions of Customs Act 1962,” Dr Yhome added.
The total value of the seized items is Rs 6.09 crore.
“Seizure of such huge quantity of cigarettes valued at more than Rs 6 crore, even by a conservative estimate is likely to cause a serious damage to the cartels running the smuggling operation in this region,” said Dr Yhome.
He also informed that five persons have been arrested in connection with the case and further investigation is in progress.
DRI has been increasingly making its presence felt in the Northeast during the last few years and has had a very positive impact on the prevention of smuggling and drug trafficking, said an official press communiqué on Tuesday.
In an effort to expand its operations in the Northeast, the DRI, Guwahati, carved out of DRI, Kolkata, has recently been upgraded to a Zonal Unit with jurisdictional Regional and Sub-Regional Units stationed in Northeast’s major cities and towns – Itanagar, Dimapur, Shillong, Agartala, Aizawl, Imphal and Silchar.