Busted: Luxe cars imported in diplomats’ names, 3 held

S Ahmed Ali / TNN / Jul 17, 2021, 06:30 IST

MUMBAI: Three people have been arrested in a luxury car smuggling racketwhere the accused managed to evade paying high custom duties by importing the cars using privileges meant for diplomats, said officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). 

The DRI officials said the arrested have been identified as key accused Liyakat Bachau Khan, CEO of a luxury car dealer from Gurugram, Nipun Miglani and Suriya Arjunan. Six high-end cars, including a Range Rover and Toyota Land Cruiser, have been seized as part of ‘Operation Monte Carlo’. The kingpin of the racket, who shuttles between India and the UAE, is also wanted. 
20 other cars smuggled likely to be confiscated
The DRI’s ‘Operation Monte Carlo’ was launched on a tip-off that a few people were smuggling high-end cars into India in the names of diplomats and diverting the same to private persons, thereby evading huge amount of customs duty. 
On getting specific details of one such car imported in the name of a Delhi-based diplomat of an African nation, the DRI kept watch over the vehicle on its arrival at the port near Mumbai. The car was loaded onto a transport vehicle and taken to a luxury car showroom in Andheri and kept for display. DRI officers kept watch over the car all along. Parallelly, in a carefully-planned all-India operation across seven cities, searches were carried out at the premises of the key individuals involved in this racket. Six cars have been confiscated. 
The probe agency said 20 other cars which had been smuggled in a similar manner by evading customs duty. These cars are now being used by celebrities, businessmen and builders. These cars too are likely to be confiscated, said an official. 
Imports made by foreign diplomats and missions in India are exempt from all custom duties. 
The net customs duty payable on import of cars works out to 204%. Officials said that exemption from customs duty is granted to certain classes of members of diplomatic missions in India and their family members on all imported goods. “Taking advantage of this, the accused forged documents to show that these cars were imported for diplomatic assignments.” said an official. 
A Dubai-based member of this gang who has allegedly been involved in other customs-related offences was the mastermind of the racket. He would arrange for import of luxury cars into India from the UK, Japan and the UAE, in the names of diplomats. On arrival in India, these vehicles were sent to the buyer’s city or a dealer of luxury cars. Registration was done at remote RTOs in different states, where there is little verification and smaller amount are payable as tax, said officials. 
After registration formalities, the cars were sold to Indian buyers, evading a custom duty of 204% . 
Officials said that more than 20 luxury vehicles could have been smuggled into India in the name of diplomats over the past five years.