Ahmedabad:The customs sleuths have busted massive smuggling of old and used computer parts/accessories (E-Waste) from Hong-Kong, Australia, Dubai and South Korea by Delhi and Gujarat based importers at Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Kandla and recovered 12 such Containers with such items worth over Rs 3 crore on the basis of information received from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

A DRI official today said that specific intelligence was developed by the DRI Zonal Unit, Ahmedabad that various importers based in Delhi and Gujarat were indulged in smuggling of old and used computer parts/accessories like Mini Tower Computer Case, Mother Boards, Hard Disk Drives etc. of various brands like HP. DELL, Lenovo etc. by dismantling them from HongKong, Australia, Dubai and South Korea. As per Foreign Trade Policy import of old and used computer parts/accessories falls under “Restricted Category” and can be imported only by those importers who have DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) Licence. As these importers did not have DGFT Licence, they were mis-declaring these old and used computer parts/accessories as new to bypass the requirement of DGFT Licence and other statutory provisions as contained in Hazardous And Other Wastes(Management and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules and E-Waste (Management) Rules notified by Ministry of Environment, Forest And Climate Change considering the risk to environment posed by E-waste.

On the basis of intelligence provided by DRI, Ahmedabad officers of SIIB (Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch) of Mundra Customs and Kandla Customs have detained one and eleven containers of old and sed computer parts/accessories respectively at Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Kandla. The market value of detained consignments is more than Rs. 3 crores, he said.

DeshGujarat

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