Officials of the Customs Commissionerate at Kila Raipur have booked a Ludhiana based firm for illegally importing around 102 metric tonnes of peas, valued at ₹2.04 crore, to save customs duty.
Customs officials from Inland Container Depot, Hind Terminals Private Limited (HTPL), while examining the goods imported by Resham General Trading, Ludhiana, found the peas concealed behind bags of bamboo beans. AS Ranga, commissioner of customs, Ludhiana, said that the firm has filed a bill of entry through their customs broker, Safe Clearing Forwarding and Service, Ludhiana, for import clearance of bamboo beans.
During examination, the containers were found fully stuffed with bags containing bamboo beans and peas. The value of the goods, as declared by the firm in the bill of entry, is ₹44.6 lakh for 5,198 bags of bamboo beans.
But, it was found during a detailed examination that 4,050 of the bags contained peas, which was not declared by the importer. The Union of India, vide notification dated March 29, 2019, had exercised the powers conferred to it under Section 3 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act and amended the import policy conditions wherein peas were restricted for import and only quota-based import at minimum import price of ₹200 per kg was allowed.