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Customs find 7 wristwatches on passenger, the most expensive valued at ₹27 cr
According to the Jacob & Co website, the total carat weight of the diamonds used in its Billionaire III watch is over 129 carats. It is a limited edition watch, only 18 have been made.
NEW DELHI: An Indian national trying to smuggle seven wrist watches including a customised gold and diamond studded Jacob & Co watch valued at over ₹27 crore has been arrested by Customs at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The arrest was made on October 4 when the passenger landed in Delhi from Dubai on an Emirates flight, EK 516. The total value of the seizure is estimated by Customs at ₹28.17 crore.
Customs officials said the passenger has been arrested for offences under section 135 of the Customs Act (relating to duty evasion which covers misdeclaration of value or fraudulent evasion or attempt at evasion of any duty). If convicted, the offence is punishable by a jail term of up to seven years if the market price of the goods exceeds ₹1 crore.
Customs officials said the suspect - he has not been identified by the authorities - was stopped for checking on the basis of passenger profiling and his baggage searched.
Inside, they found five Rolex Oyster watches, a Piaget Limelight Stella watch and a diamond-studded bracelet apart from an iPhone 14 Pro. Customs officials said the Rolex watches were worth ₹15 lakh each and the Piaget, ₹30 lakh.
But it was the hand-crafted James & Co’s Billionaire III watch - the company website says only 18 of the limited edition have been made - that was the most expensive and bumped up the value of the customs seizure.
“In commercial or luxury goods, this is the biggest seizure at the Delhi airport in terms of value of an item seized in one go. The value here is equivalent to seizing around 60 kgs of gold in one instance,” Zubair Riaz Kamili, Customs Commissioner, Delhi Airport, said.
Chief Commissioner, Delhi Customs Zone Surjit Bhujabal said alert customs officers at the Delhi Airport made this seizure possible, despite heavy passenger traffic.
“Indian Customs have always ensured maximum facilitation and minimal disturbance to genuine passengers. Simultaneously, we are ensuring the safeguard of economic frontiers by curbing smuggling, such as this,” Bhujabal said.
