The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the customs seized over 200 mobile phones and 800 computer accessories worth Rs 24.46 lakh from air mail bags at the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport in Mumbai. The smuggled goods had recently arrived through air mail from Singapore by the Singapore Airlines flight and had been consigned to different addresses in Bangalore, according to a release from customs department.
Verification of the addresses revealed that all of them were fictitious. The seizure exposed the new modus operandi adopted by smugglers--of misdeclaring goods as routine parcels and stuffing the air mail bags with smuggled goods, the release said.
Further investigations are in progress, it said, adding Singapore Airlines officials were also being questioned in the connection.
Bureau Report