DRI seizes smuggled foreign cigarettes worth Rs 45 lakh in Gorakhpur

Lucknow: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 3 lakh sticks of smuggled foreign-origin cigarettes worth Rs 45 lakh concealed inside a truck in Gorakhpur, officials said on Saturday.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs that a large consignment of cigarettes smuggled from Myanmar into India was being transported from Assam to Uttar Pradesh, DRI officers mounted surveillance along National Highway 27 in Gorakhpur.

After nearly 12 hours of vigil, officials intercepted a suspected truck in the early hours of Saturday.

During a detailed search, officers found that the truck was carrying 9.42 metric tonnes of bamboo cuts. However, a hidden cavity had been specially built behind the driver’s cabin using welded steel partitions.

Inside the concealed compartment, officers recovered 30 cartons containing 3,00,000 sticks of foreign-origin cigarettes of the brand “ESSE Lights Super Slim”.

According to DRI, the consignment was seized under provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, and the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003.

With the latest operation, DRI has seized a total of 15,32,000 sticks of smuggled foreign-origin cigarettes worth Rs 2.32 crore in different cases across Uttar Pradesh over the last eight months.