Kochi, Mar 7 (PTI) The Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate has arrested five persons from West Bengal and Assam in connection with the smuggling of high-end used cars from Bhutan, officials said on Saturday.

In a statement, Customs said the arrested persons were Biswadip Das (35) of Jaigaon in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, Dipak Patowary (57) of Paltanbazar in Kamrup district, Ayub Ali of Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district, MD Mostafa Ahmed (35) of Boladmari in Goalpara district and Jalal Mandal (31) of Chapar in Dhubri district. All four belong to Assam.

Customs officials said Patowary was the District Transport Officer (DTO) of Bongaigaon in Assam.

The arrests were made following a widespread investigation conducted in Assam and West Bengal, with the assistance of police and Customs formations in the northeastern states, officials said.

"During an investigation by Assam Police, they were found to have registered 460 such vehicles using forged documents. The vehicles include foreign-made cars as well as Indian-made vehicles that were exported earlier and later smuggled back into the country without payment of Customs duties. These were then illegally registered using forged documents," Customs said.

The Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, launched "Operation Numkhor" last year after it was found that used vehicles, mostly high-end SUVs from Bhutan, were being illegally smuggled into India, re-registered in various states, and sold to buyers who claimed they were legally imported.

Last year, Customs seized several vehicles, including some belonging to film actors in Kerala, which had been sold to them by persons involved in the illegal smuggling of vehicles from Bhutan.

The Customs statement said Das, who was arrested on February 22 and is an employee of a major IT firm, was the mastermind behind the smuggling of vehicles from Bhutan.

He was apprehended near the India-Bhutan border and later brought to Kochi on a transit warrant before being remanded in judicial custody.

Customs will soon approach the court seeking the custody of the arrested persons for further investigation, officials said.

According to Customs, a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that 15,849 vehicles with the same chassis and engine numbers were registered in multiple northeastern states. PTI TBA TBA KH

Vehicle smuggling exposed; arrests follow forged registrations and alleged official complicity, customs pursue custody. A cross border smuggling scheme brought high end used vehicles from Bhutan into India without payment of Customs duties, re registering them using forged documents; Customs' 'Operation Numkhor,' aided by state police, led to arrests, seizures and a planned court application for custody to further investigate alleged organiser conduct including involvement of a District Transport Officer and duplicate registrations identified by the auditor.