Cops seize 6.48 lakh worth foreign cigarettes; two held

Hyderabad: The Central Zone Task Force sleuths on Thursday busted a foreign Cigarette selling racket and seized Rs 6.48 lakh worth cigarette packets from the possession of two accused. According to police, during night hours on Wednesday, the police raided one godown at Old Feelkhana in Begum Bazar and apprehended two accused Nithin Ranka (38) and Vipul Ranka (34) who were illegally procuring banned Paris cigarettes. The police seized 1.08 lakh packets of banned cigarette worth around Rs 6.48 lakh and two cell phones.

Police said that the accused are running a general store business styled as “D Rajesh & Co.” and supplying tailoring material and other home appliances at Feelkahana and fraudulently procuring local made Paris cigarettes to avoid customs duty and also to avoid GST which is causing wrongful loss to government and also cheating innocent people in the guise of original Paris cigarettes.

The material is being received from Delhi, UP and Kolkata via Railway transport and for supply to the local traders in Hyderabad. They are procuring one cigarette packet at Rs 6 and supplied the same for Rs 20 and in turn the local traders used to sell the same for Rs 30. The arrested accused along with seized material were handed over to SHO, Begum Bazar PS for further investigation.