DRI seizes 3 lakh sticks of smuggled foreign-origin cigarettes worth Rs 45 lakh in UP's Gorakhpur

The DRI has seized 3,00,000 sticks of foreign-origin cigarettes worth around Rs 45 lakh that were being smuggled from Myanmar into India and transported from Assam to Uttar Pradesh concealed inside a truck, officials said on Sunday.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs about a large consignment of smuggled cigarettes being transported under the cover of bamboo cuts, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers mounted surveillance on National Highway-27 in Gorakhpur and monitored suspected vehicles coming from Assam, an official statement said.

After maintaining vigil for nearly 12 hours, officials intercepted a suspected truck in the early hours of May 23.

A detailed search of the vehicle revealed it was carrying 9.42 metric tonnes of bamboo cuts. Officials said that a specially fabricated secret cavity had been created behind the driver's cabin using welded steel partitions.

During inspection of the concealed space, officers recovered 30 cartons containing 3,00,000 sticks of foreign-origin cigarettes of the brand ''ESSE Lights Super Slim'', the statement said.

The consignment was seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962, and the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003. Further investigation is underway, officials said.

Officials also said that with this seizure, the DRI has confiscated a total of 15,32,000 sticks of smuggled foreign-origin cigarettes, valued at approximately Rs 2.32 crore, in various cases across Uttar Pradesh over the past eight months.

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