Nagpur: A team of Nagpur Customs Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (SIIB) has unearthed a major case of illicit import of areca nuts at the dry port, ICD Janori, Nashik. During the examination of imported cargo declared as ‘dry dates’, it revealed that ‘Areca Nuts’ in huge quantities are being illicitly imported from Jebel Ali,Dubai in six containers by concealment and declaring the goods as ‘dry dates’.
The total quantity of 33.00 MTs of smuggled areca nuts valued at Rs 2.48 crore along with the cover cargo viz.,dry dates were detained under the Customs Act,1962 for violating the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
The goods of areca nuts are classifiable under CTH 080280 which attracts a total duty of Rs 6.41 crore @258.40% on notified tariff value of $9093/MT. By this the huge revenue evasion was safeguarded by Customs Officers on active and alert role. The key person, Prathmesh Vijay Katkar, Proprietor of M/s P K Enterprises, who had arranged the smuggling of the consignment by way of concealment was arrested on February 16, 2023 by Nagpur Customs SIIB team.
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Saturday 22 March 2025
After the arrest, he was produced before the District Court that has ordered for judicial custody of the accused till March 2, 2023. Searches at the office of importer and customs broker were also carried out by Customs Officials wherein documents related to import have been seized by the Customs Department. Further investigation is in progress.
