Nagpur: Following the arrest of kingpin involved in the smuggling of illegal betel nuts, Jasbir Singh Chatwal, also known as Captain, by the Crime Branch of Guwahati police in Assam, the Enforcement Directorate had on on Saturday raided multiple premises in Nagpur and Mumbai and seized over 289 metric tonnes of “unaccounted” betel nuts worth Rs 11.5 crore as part of a money laundering probe against people involved in smuggling of its Indonesian variety. The ED raids created tremors among supari traders.
The raids were conducted against Prakash Goyal of Goyal Trading, Altaf Kaliwala, Asif Ghani, Wasim Bawla, Hemantkumar Gulabchand and Himanshu Bhadra of Digvijay Transport Company and offices of two CAs in Nagpur.
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However, an awful fact has come to the fore. According to a report in TV9 Marathi news channel, the supari smugglers of Nagpur are being “blessed” and “protected” in Delhi. The report further claimed that the investigations against the supari smugglers being scuttled through dalals
According to media reports, the ED case stems from a CBI FIR of March last year where it was alleged that many Nagpur-based traders in connivance with various public servants indulged in “smuggling” of sub-standard betel nuts/areca nuts of Indonesian origin and falsely claiming the same to be originating from member countries of South Asia Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) and South Asia Free Trading Agreement (SAFTA).
The reports further said that this was done by using “fake” certificates of origin, and by using bogus and under-valued bills/invoices and thus “evading” Customs duty. The Indonesian betel nut is smuggled largely from across the Myanmar border. The probe found that there is a well-organized syndicate of suppliers of Indonesian betel nut, commission agents, logistics providers, transporters, hawala operators and buyers who were smuggling this chewing item into India via the India-Myanmar border.”Fabricated” domestic invoices were made and smuggled betel nuts were brought to Nagpur and Gondia districts of Maharashtra, reports said.
As per reports, Jasbir who is originally from Nagpur was arrested from a hotel in Guwahati. He used to bring betel nuts from Myanmar and smuggled it to several parts of the country. Jasbir is accused of running illegal smuggling of betel nuts in Assam and was known to several supari mafia operating in the State.
