Officers of the Customs Preventive Commissionerate (CPC) at Vijayawada seized 80,40,000 Paris brand cigarettes valued at Rs.8 crore being smuggled in 804 cartons on Tuesday.
The contraband was on its way to the city in two lorries, one of which bearing Tamil Nadu registration was intercepted at Kesarapalli on NH-16 and the other vehicle Bihar registration on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway.
According to an official release, the lorries were loaded with 134 high-density polyethylene sacks that contained the cigarettes. On questioning, the drivers revealed that both the lorries started at Patna but claimed to be unaware of what was the consignment.
It was stated that smuggling of foreign cigarettes was a lucrative business to black marketeers who make huge profits by avoiding customs duty. Smuggled cigarettes don’t have pictorial warnings as required by the Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act of 2003. This is the highest-ever seizure of smuggled foreign cigarettes reported by the CPC since its formation in 2014.
