Ludhiana: DRI confiscates dates hidden in scrap containers

A team of directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) on Sunday carried out a raid at the dry port in Kila Raipur and confiscated dates hidden in 10 containers to exempt tax worth crores of rupees.

The 10 containers were shipped by a firm into the country from Dubai by stating it to be scrap material. The raid was carried out on the directions of the additional director general DRI Nitin Saini, GS Bains and deputy director Pankaj Diwadi.

As per a DRI official, the import duty on scrap material is around 2% to 5%, while it is 20% on dates.

The role of customs department has also come under scanner after the recovery of huge quantities of dates following the raid.It is also learned that the customs department had cleared the shipment from the dry port when the raid was conducted.The DRI is currently scrutinising the documents of the firm which was involved in the shipment of dates in scrap containers.