Hyderabad: Foreign cigarettes worth Rs 1 crore seized, 5 held

HYDERABAD: Task Force police busted an inter-state foreign cigarette smuggling racket and arrested five persons. Police seized Rs 1 crore worth foreign cigarettes from the possession of the accused.
Acting on specific information, the North Zone team of Task Force intercepted an auto trolley at Rishab Agency in Siddiambar Bazar and seized 503 cartons of illegally imported foreign cigarettes of various brands.
Based on the information obtained from the auto driver, police proceeded to Sarna Transports Pvt Ltd in Goshamahal and arrested the accused. “The accused have been illegally obtaining foreign cigarettes from Delhi and supplying them to paan shops and kirana stores locally. They are evading the taxes and causing loss to the government exchequer,” Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar said.
The accused have been identified as Vipul Ranka (42), Jagadish Kumar (19), Doongarchand Shrishrimal (65), Pavan Kumar Perthani (42) and MA Haneef, a delivery agent at Sarna Transport.
Vipul confessed to police that he has been procuring foreign cigarettes from Ravinder Singh Sarna (58), owner of Sarna Transport, who is absconding. Vipul has a criminal record, the CP added. A case was filed against him by the Begum Bazar police in 2019.