Smuggling racket busted

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 8. The Enforcement Directorate claims to have got vital leads on a series of unauthorised foreign exchange transactions by a smuggling syndicate which allegedly used women and bribe to win over Customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). The officials allegedly allowed the gang to smuggle precious goods into India in the name of ``Chinese silk.''

The leads were provided by Olga Korizeva, an Uzbekistani woman and a member of the syndicate, after a two- member team of the Directorate grilled her for six hours in the Tihar Jail for two consecutive days.

Olga is lodged in the jail in a Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act (COFEPOSA) case. Olga is said to have named certain Delhi-based textile traders who allegedly helped the smuggling syndicate to sell their goods, collect their earnings in dollars and repatriate them abroad.

The investigating team had earlier interrogated Abdul Qahar, another member of the syndicate, who also named a businessman of the Capital, who allegedly helped the culprits in the illegal foreign exchange transactions in violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA).

The Delhi Zone Deputy Director of the Directorate, Mr. Virender Singh, took early initiative in the matter and asked the Assistant Director, Mr. S. K. Jha, and the Chief Enforcement Officer, Mr. R. K. Ajmani, to seek permission from a court here to interrogate the two.

The Directorate moved an application through its counsel, Mr. N. K. Matta, in the court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mr. V. K. Maheshwari, who allowed it to question the two accused.

The FERA violation case is an offshoot of a smuggling racket involving several officials, including some seniors, of the Customs Department. They were involved in a conspiracy where Olga and her accomplices, Nazira, Abdul Qahar and Mamoor Khan, allegedly indulged in the smuggling of precious and objectionable goods into India in the name of ``Chinese silk'' between 1997 and 2000.

Meanwhile, the Customs Department has issued ``show cause'' notices to 22 Customs officers seeking explanation for their alleged role in the smuggling racket.

The notices issued by Mr. R. K. Gupta, Commissioner of Customs (General), New Delhi, ask these officials to show cause within 30 days why the `silk textile smuggled from China' be not confiscated. The notices further ask them to explain why the Customs duty amounting to Rs. 1.75 crore should not be demanded from them along with interest. They have been asked to show cause why penalty should not be imposed on them under Section 112 (a) (b) or 114A of the Customs Act.

Besides the 22 officials of superintendent and inspector ranks, 23 private persons, including Olga and Nazira, have been issued notices.

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