Smuggling of betel nut under the guise of cashew in West Bengal, one arrested

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a gang that illegally imported betel nuts worth crores from abroad in Kolkata under the guise of cashew nuts. The central agency has seized betel nut worth about Rs 2.69 crore from two containers brought here and arrested one person in this case. The name of the accused has been given as Amit Singh. DRI officials are trying to trace other associates of the accused.

According to sources, during investigation, DRI has come to know that the gang has formed syndicates in other states including Bengal to illegally import betel nut from abroad for tax evasion. It came to light that the syndicate of accused Amit Singh was active in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata. A few days ago, DRI had come to know that two containers containing ‘cashew’ from abroad had reached Kolkata.

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Based on the information received from the informers, the DRI team examined both the containers and found that instead of cashew nuts, they contained betel nuts, worth around Rs 2.69 crore. Investigation also revealed that the leader of the gang is a resident of Rajasthan and he had planned to smuggle betel nut worth about Rs 10 crore from Malaysia to Kolkata via Singapore.

Amit Singh is accused of forming a fake company with a businessman from Uttar Pradesh on the instructions of the gang leader. After that, with the help of a fake company, under the guise of cashew nuts, two containers loaded with betel nuts were brought to Kolkata via Singapore. A company from Rajasthan has been shown to be the main agent of export, which was also operated by the gang. DRI got wind of this whole scam and the accused was arrested along with confiscating the betel nut.