Customs officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport have encountered largescale smuggling of the famous Gudang Garam brand of cigarettes over the last few days. Officials have seized 1,500 cartons of the cigarettes worth around `13 lakh from various international fliers and have started investigations into the reason behind the smuggling of this particular brand.
According to officials, the smugglers’ usual modus operandi is to conceal the cartons in the bags and bribe some of the known officials to get the contraband out. “However, after spotting officers whom they can’t pay off, the smugglers abandon their bags on the conveyor belt and either run away or brisk walk out of the departures. There have been three such incidents where we have arrested one gang, which started fleeing,” a customs official explained. There are around 250 cigarettes in one carton. While a packet in Mumbai costs `50 and a
single cigarette costs `5.
Smugglers usually operate on the Dubai-Colombo-Mumbai route, where they only take Air Lanka or Air India flights. As reported by this newspaper on April 16, a Chennai-based gang coming from Singapore was busted on April 13. The gang abandoned its luggage on the conveyor belt and started running leading to a dramatic chase by officers of the Air Intelligence Unit. The four smugglers were carrying 1,000 cartons.
“Four hundred cartons were also recovered from four fliers coming from Dubai in an Air India flight on June 2. The four however escaped after seeing customs officials. We have taken their contact details from immigrations,” said assistant customs commissioner (Air Intelligence Unit) Sameer Wankhede.