DRI, aka, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have seized 3,646 iPhones at the Mumbai International Airport. Moreover, the iPhones seized up are not older models but rather, the latest iPhone 13 series models. Multiple events led to the seizure of this iPhone models from the International Airport. Without any further ado, here is everything you need to know about it.
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What Led to the iPhone Seize Up?
The primary reason behind these iPhones being seized up is the fact that they were “illegally” entering Indian soil. In other words, the smartphones were being smuggled from Hong Kong to the Mumbai Air Cargo Complex (AAC) at the international airport in India.
The smartphones were being imported as “memory cards”, as per the import documents. However, further physical examination of the consignments revealed that these were actually some latest flagship smartphones instead.
What did the Consignments Contain?
These consignments consisted primarily of the latest Apple iPhones. To be specific, the batches of illegally imported goods contained 2,245 iPhone 13 Pro handsets, 1,401 iPhone 13 Pro Max handsets, 12 Google Pixel 6 Pro handsets and an Apple Smart Watch as well.
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These numbers were revealed by the physical examination of the consignments before the iPhones getting seized up. All of these smartphones and the Apple Smart Watch were not declared under imported goods as per the Customs Act in India. This immediately makes these batches of goods be categorised as “illegal”.
Total Valuation of the Seize Up
Coming to the most staggering fact of the entire iPhones being seized up incident is the collective valuation of these consignments. The thousands of iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro Max handsets alongside the dozen Google Pixel 6 Pro and one Apple Smart Watch comes at a valuation of staggering Rs. 42.86 crore. Moreover, this was as opposed to the declared value of goods at just Rs. 80 lakh.
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According to an official release, the very fact that the smuggling of such high-end devices takes place so easily in such high quantities show how quickly these smugglers can establish a network. Further, the release reads as, “”This detection has helped unearth a serious import fraud having substantial revenue implications.” Now, after the huge iPhones getting seized up case, future smuggle-ins will definitely get difficult and that is definitely a win for the DRI.
