https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=789943 Confiscation of seized gold and silver could not be sustained because the Department failed to establish a pre-seizure reasonable belief that the goods were smuggled. The record showed no concrete material beyond the carrier's initial statement: searches yielded no incriminating evidence, no foreign markings were found, and no effective inquiry traced any smuggling chain or tested the invoices at the sellers' end. The presumption under Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962 therefore did not arise. The retracted statement of the carrier, unsupported by corroboration and evidentiary compliance, could not by itself justify confiscation or penalties. en-us Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:21:24 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=789943 Confiscation of seized gold and silver could not be sustained because the Department failed to establish a pre-seizure reasonable belief that the goods were smuggled. The record showed no concrete material beyond the carrier's initial statement: searches yielded no incriminating evidence, no foreign markings were found, and no effective inquiry traced any smuggling chain or tested the invoices at the sellers' end. The presumption under Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962 therefore did not arise. The retracted statement of the carrier, unsupported by corroboration and evidentiary compliance, could not by itself justify confiscation or penalties. Case-Laws Customs Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=789943