Two held for smuggling over 30,000 packs of illegal cigarettes in GB Nagar

Officials received a tip-off that a truck carrying counterfeit products will cross Gautam Budh Nagar via the Chijjarsi toll plaza, following which the smugglers were intercepted at the Pilukhwa toll plaza

The Gautam Budh Nagar unit of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force arrested two people on Wednesday for smuggling over 30,000 packs of illegal cigarettes, worth ₹1.5 crore. The suspects were apprehended from the Pilkhuwa toll plaza in Hapur, officials said.

he cigarettes were allegedly smuggled from countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Officials received a tip-off that a truck carrying counterfeit products will cross Gautam Budh Nagar via the Chijjarsi toll plaza, following which the smugglers were intercepted at the Pilukhwa toll plaza. The cigarettes were allegedly smuggled from countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh.

The suspects have been identified as Ravi Giri, a resident of Sambhal, and Muzammil, a resident of Bulandshahr. Officials recovered 21,200 packets of cigarettes from Indonesia and 9,000 packets from South Korea, along with the truck.

“During interrogation, Muzammil said that his accomplice Gaurav, a resident of Assam, smuggled foreign cigarettes from Indonesia, Korea and other countries through Bangladesh. Muzammil would then bring these cigarettes from Gaurav by hiding them under old tires in trucks and sell them in the NCR region,” Raj Kumar Mishra, additional superintendent of police (STF field unit, Gautam Budh Nagar), said.

He further informed that the smugglers made huge profits by selling these cigarettes in NCR areas. “Milk cartons were often used for smuggling within cities. The cigarettes were hidden under buckets of milk and sold in Noida, Delhi, and Gurugram,” he said. The suspects have been booked under section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code and section 7/20 of the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act. “The suspects were sent to jail after being produced before a magistrate,” he added.