CHENNAI: Customs officials at Chennai international airport recently, seized e-cigarettes and cigarettes smuggled from Malaysia and Dubai respectively in separate incidents.
On July 16, Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Chennai Air Customs during a routine check, seized three consignments from Malaysia, which carried 29 kg of e-cigarettes, totalling to 998 e-cigarettes of ELFBAR brand worth Rs 23 lakh, misreported as cloth hangers and textile material at the Foreign Post Office, Chennai.
The contrabands were seized under 110 and 111 of the Customs Act read with PECA (Prohibition of electronic cigarettes act) Act 2019. In the second seizure on July 14, 25 kg of cigarette, totalling to 2 lakh cigarettes worth `25 lakh, were seized from 10 consignments from Dubai.
The cigarettes, including brands such as Monds Superslims, Platinum Seven 7, were attempted to be smuggled in 10 carton boxes to different addresses in Chennai through Foreign Post Office as chewable tobacco products and used clothes. The contrabands were seized under Section 110 and 111 of the Customs Act, 1962, read with Section 7 of the COTPA Act, 2003. Probe is underway.