DRI seizes huge haul of foreign-make cigarettes in AP

Hyderabad: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has busted a cigarette smuggling racket and seized over 71 lakh foreign-make cigarette sticks valued at Rs 8.92 crore from Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh, a top official said on Thursday.

Based on specific intelligence, the officers of DRI's Hyderabad zonal unit conducted an operation at Krishnapatnam port on December 29 and seized huge quantity of cigarettes of foreign origin that were attempted to be smuggled into the country in the guise of 'synthetic bed sets', DRI Additional Director General, M K Singh said in a release.

The officers recovered and seized 71,40,000 sticks of filter cigarettes of different brands and flavours packed in boxes, valued at about Rs 8.92 crore, from a container which arrived at Krishnapatnam port from UAE.

The cigarettes were concealed inside the container behind several cartons of synthetic bed sets. The officers also seized the bed sets used for concealing the contraband goods, stated the release, adding that further investigation is on.

PTI