DRI Detects 200 cases of Commercial Fraud Involving Customs Duty Estimated at Rs.489 Crore During the Same Period

In the first six months of the financial year 2010-11(April to September, 2010), the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), under Ministry of Finance has detected 193 cases of outright smuggling and seized Narcotics Drugs & other contraband like ketamine, ephedrine, etc. and environmentally sensitive commodities worth Rs. 243 crore. In Narcotics Drugs alone, 28 kg of Heroin and 11 tonne of Ganja worth Rs. 152 crore in the international market were seized during this period. DRI has also been successful in seizing Fake Indian Currency (FICN) having face value of Rs. 104 lakh in this period. In October, 2010, DRI has seized Rs. 38 lakh of FICN in West Bengal, bringing the total to a face value of Rs. 142 lakh.

Besides above, 200 cases of Commercial fraud involving customs duty estimated at Rs. 489 crore have also been detected by DRI during this period. Notable items involved in such cases are fabrics, garments, ball bearings, electronics, thermal coal, iron ore, carpets, thermal paper, cut and polished diamonds, petroleum products, aircraft, etc. During this period, 255 show cause notices involving customs duty amounting to Rs. 2,637 crore have been issued by DRI and 122 persons were arrested for violating the NDPS Act, Customs Act and other allied Acts. 14 persons were detained under COFEPOSA. DRI also recovered an amount of Rs. 150 crore as voluntary payment of duty during investigations. 

In a recent case of evasion of Customs duty of about Rs. 20 Crore, DRI found that certain individuals based in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Jaipur had been importing glass chatons (imitation stones) from Hong Kong and Dubai by declaring a value close to 10 percent of the actual, in order to escape payment of the appropriate import duty. 

In another landmark case, recently DRI detected a novel modus operandi being used to export Ketamine, a party drug, illegally. A Delhi based exporter attempted to export approximately 102kg of Ketamine concealed under "sarees" and "old & used clothes" stuffed in a container to a Canada based consignee. DRI sleuths successfully foiled the attempt and seized the consignment. Based on the sharing of information, another consignment of 100 kg of ketamine was interdicted by the Canadian authorities. The estimated international street price of the two seizures of Ketamine is Rs. 20 crore. 

Customs enforcement uncovers widespread smuggling and commercial fraud, prompting seizures, prosecutions, and enhanced investigatory actions. Customs enforcement by DRI in the first half of 2010-11 uncovered numerous smuggling and commercial fraud cases, seizing narcotics, contraband and fake currency, issuing multiple show cause notices, making arrests and detentions under NDPS and Customs law, recovering duty by voluntary payment, and using international information sharing to interdict concealed exports and undervaluation schemes.