https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=46663 The statutory presumption under Section 123 of the Customs Act applies only after the prosecution proves the foundational fact that the seized articles are the specified goods and were reasonably believed to be smuggled; where proof that the biscuits were gold was not established, the burden did not shift to the accused. Non-compliance with the mandatory safeguard of informing the accused of the right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate rendered the search and seizure suspect and could not sustain conviction. A retracted statement under Section 108, without independent corroboration, was insufficient. The conviction and sentence were therefore set aside and the accused was acquitted. en-us Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:55:45 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=46663 The statutory presumption under Section 123 of the Customs Act applies only after the prosecution proves the foundational fact that the seized articles are the specified goods and were reasonably believed to be smuggled; where proof that the biscuits were gold was not established, the burden did not shift to the accused. Non-compliance with the mandatory safeguard of informing the accused of the right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate rendered the search and seizure suspect and could not sustain conviction. A retracted statement under Section 108, without independent corroboration, was insufficient. The conviction and sentence were therefore set aside and the accused was acquitted. Case-Laws Customs Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=46663