The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is on the lookout for a person in connection with last month’s red sanders smuggling at the JNPT port. The police had seized 132 metric tonnes of red sanders worth `55 crore at the port on July 15, which was set to be smuggled out of the country in containers.
“We are on the lookout for one Pramod who is currently absconding. He is suspected to be the kingpin behind the entire racket,” said a DRI source. Officers on July 18, also found three other abandoned containers at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai from which another 18.3 metric tonnes of red sanders, worth `7.3 crore was seized. “They were a part of the same consignment, but the smugglers abandoned it immediately after they learnt of the raid. While the first container was carrying the red sanders, the other two were carrying 55 tonnes of marble tiles. The tiles were supposed to be the actual content in the containers seized at JNPT as per the declaration in the documentation,” said the DRI officer.
The smugglers swapped the contents en route to the port from the factory. In such cases, smugglers often opt for the “factory stuffing” provision where the content to be transported is examined and sealed at the factory itself by central excise and customs officers.