Through a recently conducted investigation at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) were successful in seizing over 3,600 iPhone 13 models which arrived in the city from Hong Kong.
As per reports, the quantity was worth over INR 42 crore and the phones were being smuggled to India by being declared as memory cards.
Post the investigation, the body released a statement which read, “The consignments had come from Hong Kong at the air cargo complex at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. The sender declared the goods as ‘memory cards’ in the import documents but during a physical examination, it was revealed the actual consignment contained iPhones.”
A report regarding the same was published in the Hindustan Times.
iPhone 13 was the recently launched model by Apple and the new model was available in India from September 2021. The price of the lowest variant was INR 70,000 and other higher-end models were being sold at the cost upto INR 1.8 lakhs.
Sharing more details about the phones, an official from the body informed that custom duty of 44% is imposed on importing mobile phones into India and smuggling such phones in bulk quantities eventually proves the bigger network involved in the crime.
Catching hold of this network has been beneficial to the CRI in exposing the import fraud and strengthened the department’s ability to detect and deal with such crime efficiently.
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