Foreign cigarettes seized at LGBI airport in Guwahati

Guwahati, Feb. 2: Fuelled by high demand in New Delhi, foreign cigarettes have become the latest lucrative contraband among smugglers in the Northeast.

Sources in the customs department told The Telegraph that the soaring demand of imported cigarettes in the national capital has led to a spurt in smuggling of such cigarettes from Myanmar through the northeastern states.

“According to the information received by us, a large quantity of foreign cigarettes are being smuggled into the region through the porous India-Myanmar border in Manipur for onward transhipment to Delhi, where these cigarettes are very popular,” a source said. “From Imphal, these cigarettes are usually smuggled to New Delhi mostly through air cargo,” he added.

He said customs sleuths have stepped up vigil at the airports in the region acting on the information and there have been three seizures of Myanmar-made cigarettes from Imphal-Guwahati-Delhi flights at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport here in the past month.

The combined value of the three hauls was more than Rs 25 lakh and cases have been registered under relevant provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

He said the latest haul was last Tuesday when a consignment of 2.9 lakh cigarettes was recovered from an Indian Airlines Imphal-Guwahati-Delhi flight, whose market value is Rs 12.5 lakh. “The consignment was booked for New Delhi at the Imphal head post office. However, nobody has been arrested so far,” the source said.

The other two hauls were made at the LGBI Airport from New Delhi-bound flights last year on December 4 and 26, he added. In the December 4 seizure, six lakh cigarettes valued at Rs 9 lakh were seized while on December 26, 2.9 lakh sticks valued at Rs 4.35 lakh were confiscated. He said the seized cigarettes were of Myanmarese brands like Ruili River, Excellent Blend, Win, among others.

Asked about the factors behind the increase in the illegal trade of cigarettes, the source said the extremely high excise duty and VAT on cigarettes in India makes smuggling a particularly attractive proportion. He cited the huge price differential in India and neighbouring countries as one of the primary reasons for the increase in the smuggling, as the smuggled international brands are cheaper.

“The large and porous borders also contribute to the easy availability of smuggled brands,” he said. “The government is losing huge amount of revenue because of the rampant smuggling,” he added.

Apart from Myanmar, cheap cigarette brands enter the country from China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan. “Smuggled and contraband cigarettes are gradually becoming a problem in India. There are lot of cigarettes smuggled from outside and counterfeit products, which are sold in huge quantities,” he added.