Over one lakh smuggled cigarettes of foreign brands, worth Rs 20 lakh, have been seized by officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) here in Madhya Pradesh, an official release said on Saturday.
DRI sleuths on Thursday searched various premises on a tip off that a large quantity of the smuggled cigarettes have been kept in some godowns in Bhopal and found more than 1 lakh cigarettes of various brands, it said.
The value of the seizure is Rs 20 lakh, the release said.
These cigarettes were illegally smuggled into India and the packets do not carry the Cancer awareness images and pictorial warnings as mandated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, officials said.
The goods were seized under Customs Act 1962 read with Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, as amended, and Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2020.
It was found during investigation that these cigarettes were transported to Bhopal via Delhi, the release said.
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