MUMBAI: More than 50 imported cars have been smuggled over the past five years by the car import mafia arrested recently, DRI officials said. The gang offloaded the cars at various ports of the country.
DRI had last week busted arrested three persons and seized six high-end cars each worth more than Rs 1 crore. The gang used diplomatic privileges and imported these cars and evaded huge amounts of duty.
During the probe, DRI has learnt that the gang has imported around 50 high end cars in the last five years and have also found links of the absconding suspects with 2008 investigations in which the DRI had seized 36 cars that were fraudulently imported from foreign shores.
The investigation has suggested that one Abdul Rahman from Dubai is believed to be the kingpin of the racket. The agency is verifying whether he is the same person arrested in the earlier scam. “We have identified more than 20 cars smuggled by these gangs. They forged diplomatic documents of various countries to import vehicles. We are exploring money possibly transferred through hawala channels,” said a source.
