Man held at Kolkata airport with watches valued at Rs 30 cr

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Saturday apprehended a man at Kolkata airport for allegedly smuggling expensive foreign-brand watches valued at Rs 30 crore.

An expensive Greubel Forsey brand watch was recovered from him at the airport.

Later, a raid was conducted at his house which led to the recovery of 34 high-end watches of various premium brands, namely Greubel Forsey, Purnell, Louis Vuitton, MB&F, Mad, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille.

"Most of these watches are Limited Edition watches of exceptionally high value. The total market value of all the watches is estimated at more than Rs 30 crore," the official said.

The accused arrived at Kolkata airport from Singapore.

The DRI Mumbai Zonal team got a tip-off that one person was in possession of more than 34 smuggled high-end premium watches of foreign origin at his residential premises.

An input suggested that the said person was abroad and would be returning to India carrying some more high-end premium watches of foreign origin.

"The watches were to be smuggled into the country without payment of Customs duty charges. Acting on the intelligence, the said individual was intercepted at Kolkata airport while coming back from Singapore and an expensive Greubel Forsey brand watch was recovered from his possession which he didn't declare before the Customs Authorities," an official said.

The accused was arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act.

Import of watches by individuals through the baggage attracts 38.5 per cent of Customs duties as per Baggage Rules, which was evaded by the accused.

(With inputs from IANS)