- Delhi Police seized prohibited foreign cigarettes worth Rs 25.76 lakh from a smuggling racket
- Four people, including two women, were arrested at the Noida-Delhi border in an SUV
- 9,420 packets with 1,88,400 sticks lacking health warnings were confiscated by police
The Delhi Police has busted a cigarette-smuggling racket and seized a massive consignment of foreign-made prohibited cigarettes valued at around Rs 25.76 lakh, an official said on Monday.
Police apprehended four people, including two women, from the Noida-Delhi border on Sunday.
"The accused were travelling in an SUV that was being used to smuggle the contraband from Guwahati to Delhi," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
He said a total of 9,420 packets containing 1,88,400 sticks of prohibited cigarettes of international brands were seized during the operation.
"The packets lacked the statutory health warnings mandated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare," the DCP added.
The accused were identified as Mukeem and Sameer, both residents of Baraut in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. The two women were hired as decoys to pose as family members of the accused to avoid police suspicion, the officer said.
"A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 at the Crime Branch police station and further investigation is underway," the senior police officer said.
Following a tip-off, a police team laid a trap and intercepted the vehicle.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that the cigarettes were smuggled into India from Myanmar and were being transported to the national capital via Guwahati.
"The women were paid Rs 4,000 each to accompany the accused and help them appear as a family during the interstate journey," the DCP added.
The seized sports utility vehicle (SUV) was registered in the name of Sameer and was reportedly gifted to him on his wedding. One of the women is divorced and lives in Delhi with her parents, while the other is unmarried and hails from Lucknow. Both previously worked together in a private firm in Gurugram, the officer said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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