Customs seize luxury goods worth Rs 4 crore

Mumbai customs’ preventive unit seized luxury goods worth almost Rs 4 crore early on Friday from Nhava Sheva, which is situated in the western coast of Mumbai.

According to officials, the consignment was stuffed in a 40-foot container. Also, officials said that this was the first time that a consignment of luxury products had entered the city via sea. The items contained in the container included cosmetics, perfumes, deodorants, soap and beauty products. The consignment had arrived in the city on May 12 at night, from Dubai.

The container was declared to be full of scrubbers that are used to clean utensils. According to the officials, this was done to evade huge amount of customs duty. The brand of goods that were seized is only available at extremely expensive malls and high-end hotels, said customs officials.

According to the customs sources, the consignment was imported under the name of one Ram Chandra Enterprises and, according to the preventive unit officials, in such duty evasion cases financers always keep their name hidden. Officials are now in search of the importers and arrests are soon expected in the case. While talking to The Asian Age, a senior preventive unit official said that it was surprising that the consignment got a clearance from the pre-paid warehouse zone of Nhava Sheva on Thursday around 11 pm. Later, officials, who were tipped off about the consignment seized it and sent it to their storage centre at Navi Mumbai.

Another official on the condition of anonymity said, “While there was no maximum retail price on the products, when we checked with online shopping portals we came to know that they are worth around Rs 4 crore.” He further added, “They have markings on them which reads ‘Imported in Germany’ or ‘Meant for Germany’ and ‘Imported in Canada or ‘Meant for Canada’ which means they are not meant for Indian consumers.”