The DRI has unearthed a diesel smuggling racket and seized fuel worth Rs 1 crore while arresting four people.
The four arrested people were smuggling diesel into India via Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) and Chennai from Dubai by declaring it mineral spirit, a press release issued today by the DRI said.
Diesel is a restricted commodity for import as per the foreign trade policy and allowed to be imported only by oil marketing companies which meet certain government norms.
Dummy companies were opened in Dubai to purchase diesel and import the same to Chennai by creating false documents and invoices, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said.
Acting on intelligence that diesel in huge quantity was being brought from Dubai on regular basis through containers at Chennai port for further illegal sale in Tamilnadu, AP and Telangana, simultaneous searches were carried out by the DRI officers at various places across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu from April 17 onwards.
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Searches conducted at two container freight stations in Chennai revealed that 14 containers, where the goods were declared as mineral spirit, were found to be actually carrying 263.78 MT (3 lakh litres approximate) of diesel, it said.
According to the DRI, the operators of diesel smuggling racket based at Kakinada hatched a plan and started smuggling diesel' in guise of mineral spirit'.
They not only imported the said restricted item but also declared much lower value, around 40% of the actual value, thereby evading customs duty on the said consignments, the release said.
The opeartors had offices in Kakinada, storage yard at Maraimalai Nagar, Chennai and an office front at Guindy, Chennai to facilitate said smuggling and distribution, the DRI said.
A relative of one of the operators from Kakinada was looking after the logistics, moving the diesel into the grey markets in Chennai, Kakinada, Ongole and parts of Telangana, the release said.
It is found that in the past these operators have smuggled around 5366 MT (63 lakh litres approx) of diesel valued at around 17.7 crore, which comes to around 285 containers, the DRI said.
As the diesel has been smuggled into India in contravention of provisions of the Customs Act, 14 containers of diesel having value of over 1 crore have been seized, it said.
Four people, including the mastermind and one hawala operator have been arrested, it said.
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