Chinese cellphone importer booked under COFEPOSA

Official sources said the Delhi-based businessman was recently booked under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) after his documents showed large scale imports of Chinese mobile phones allegedly based on forged papers. The mobile importer is also accused of running a hawala network.

In February last year, the ED had seized about Rs one crore during its searches at various premises of the businessman across the national capital, including Karol Bagh and Chandini Chowk areas. It had also seized a large number of documents showing foreign bank accounts, unaccounted investments and receipts and payments allegedly showing hawala transactions worth several hundred crore rupees.

He used to import Chinese mobile phones in large quantity which was then sent out to various mobile markets in the country, the official said. He was earlier booked by the ED under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Chinese mobile phones had become a security risk as most of them did not have the IMEI number, which is used by the security agencies to monitor calls to and from a particular cellphone. The government had last year banned import of Chinese mobile phones without the IMEI number and also blocked calls to all phones which did not carry that.