Two directors of a city-based jewellery shop were arrested for allegedly attempting to evade duty, while three air passengers were apprehended for trying to smuggle gold, a Customs official said here today.
Jogendra Javeheri and his brother Yogen, directors of Raunak Jewellery, were arrested from the city for allegedly trying to evade duty.
They had wrongly declared processed pearls as raw pearls in order to evade 10 per cent duty, an official of Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs said.
In a recent consignment which arrived at Cargo Customs Clearance Centre at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) area, the importers had declared the goods as "raw pearls" to evade duty.
"However, lab tests revealed that the goods were processed pearls which attract 10 per cent duty. The value was declared as Rs 57 lakh but the actual value is Rs 1.3 crore," the officer said.
The Customs has now brought the jewellery firm's previous 130 imported consignments during the past five years under scanner, the officer said.
In another case, air passengers W Ajmal Mohammed Aslam and Hasina Bano Shaikh Akram were arrested from Mumbai international airport today for allegedly trying to smuggle in 17 gold bars and a gold chain collectively valued at Rs 57.20 lakh. The valuables were seized and the two, who arrived from Dubai, were arrested.
In yet another case of smuggling of gold, ten gold bars worth Rs 29.68 lakh were seized from air passenger Umakar Naeem Nisar, who arrived from Dubai, after which he was arrested.
