New Delhi, Jun 17 (PTI) The Customs department on Friday seized over 37 lakh cigarette sticks, including over 7 lakh foreign origin ones valued at Rs 1 crore.

In a statement, the finance ministry said no documents could be shown by the owner of the goods about the procurement. The owner has been apprehended and further enquiry is on.

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"Indian Customs has seized a total of 7,10,000 nos. sticks of foreign origin cigarettes with brand 'Djarum Black' valuing at around Rs 1 crore here today," the statement said.

Besides, foreign origin packets of Indian brand cigarettes containing a total of 30,21,500 sticks were also found. These brands were 'Gold Flame, Gold Clock, Flame, Fun Gold, Impression, Pelicans, and Gold Fighter', it added.

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Smuggling of cigarettes involves their illicit transportation between continents, countries and provinces via air or sea transport, usually with the aim of circumventing taxes and other restrictions on imports and exports.

This enables smugglers to re-sell this item at a reduced price and/or recuperate the cost that would typically be paid to the state in the form of customs duty.

Presently, more than 100 international smuggled cigarette brands are flooding the Indian market from all over the globe. The smuggled cigarettes are approximately 5 times cheaper than the duty paid cigarettes, the ministry added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)