CBIC Destroys Rs 460 Crore Worth Of Drugs, Foreign Cigarettes, Contraband

New Delhi: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Friday said its various wings have destroyed drugs, foreign cigarettes and contraband worth Rs 460 crore as part of 'Special Campaign 4.0'.

In continuation of fight against illegal importation of contraband goods, Delhi Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate and Customs (Airport and General) Commissionerate jointly destroyed a total of around 49 lakh cigarettes of foreign origin, around 73 kgs of NDPS drugs including heroin, cocaine, ganja, charas and so on, gutkha/pan masala and e-cigarettes.

Value of destroyed e-cigarettes and contraband is approximately Rs 460 crores, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

These goods were seized by the Customs department for violation of Customs Act, NDPS Act and the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act, it said.

The destruction process was carried out on October 25 in a safe and non-hazardous manner at a waste management facility at Delhi in presence of Harbinder Kaur Prasad, Commissioner of Delhi Customs Preventive Commissionerate and Vishal Pal Singh, Commissioner of Customs (Airport and General) Commissionerate, it said.

Rs 14 lakh drugs seized in Gujarat  

On Monday, police have seized MD contraband valued at Rs 14 lakh and other suspected drugs of 427 kg from a factory in Ankleshwar industrial area in Gujarat's Bharuch district and arrested one person in this connection, an official said Monday.

The suspected materials, seized from the 'Avasar Enterprise' located in Ankleshwar GIDC area, have been sent to a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for confirmation, Special Operations Group (SOG) police inspector Anand Chaudhary said.

In the raids, conducted jointly by the district SOG and Surat police on Sunday night, 141 gm of methamphetamine (MD) drug valued at Rs 14.10 lakh was also seized from the factory, he said.

One person has been arrested so far in this connection, and further investigation is underway, the official said.

The action comes a week after more than 500 kg of cocaine valued at Rs 5,000 crore was seized from Avkar Drugs Limited factory in Ankleshwar in a joint operation carried out by the Gujarat and Delhi police on October 13.

This contraband was seized weeks after the Delhi Police raided a warehouse in the national capital and seized a consignment of 562 kilogram cocaine and 40 kg of hydroponic marijuana.

On October 10, an additional 208 kg of cocaine was recovered from a shop at Ramesh Nagar in Delhi.

The investigation suggested the contraband belonged to a company named Pharma Solution Services, and it came from Avkar Drugs Limited Company of Ankleshwar, Gujarat, the police had said.

With inputs from PTI