The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Fabrics, floor mats seized at Air Cargo unit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 23, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Fabrics, floor mats seized at Air Cargo unit

Staff Reporter

Passengers had declared that the baggage contained personal effects

Seized material valued at Rs. 34 lakh
8,234 metres of fabric recovered from baggage

CHENNAI: Officials of the Customs Air Cargo unit have seized 14,650 metres of fabrics with embroidery and chamki works and floor mats booked as personal goods. The seized materials were valued at Rs.34 lakh.

C. Rajan, Commissioner of Customs (Airport), said the authorities scanned two consignments of personal baggage that had arrived from Dubai on June 2 in the name of A.R. Hassan and Archunan Kannan.

The passengers had declared that the baggage contained used clothes, personal effects, blankets, carpets and curtain cloth. However, the authorities recovered 8,234 metres of fabrics with embroidery and chamki works. Investigations revealed that the two persons were labourers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. When they returned to India, they requested their friends to send their personal belongings as unaccompanied baggage.

Both informed the authorities that they were unaware that the baggage contained fabrics. They said someone had misused the details in their passports to book the consignment. On June 7, 14 and 18 similar consignments arrived at the Air Cargo Complex. The passengers disowned them, Mr. Rajan said. “There is a great demand for fabrics with embroidery and chamki works, which are being sold in the market at a premium rate,” he added.

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