The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted an Apple iPhone smuggling racket and seized over 3,600 handsets of iPhones 13 worth of Rs 43 crore, suspected to be arriving from Hong Kong. The DRI seized the consignment at the Air Cargo Complex (ACC) at the international airport in Mumbai.

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According to the country’s apex anti-smuggling investigation agency, two consignments arrived as ‘memory chips’ to evade customs duty. On physical inspection of the consignments, the DRI found 1,401 handsets of iPhone 13 Pro Max, 2,245 handsets of iPhone 13 Pro, 12 handsets of Google Pixel 6 pro and one Apple Smart Watch. The combined value of the seized goods was Rs 42.86 crore, but only goods worth Rs 80 lakh were declared.

The Apple smartwatch and the mobile phones were not declared under the Customs Act as imported goods. Mobile phone imports attract a customs duty of around 44 percent in India.

“The detection of attempted smuggling of these high-end phones of latest models in such large numbers shows how quickly the smugglers establish their smuggling networks for the latest products, like iPhone 13,” the agency said in a statement.

At a base price of Rs 70,000, the iPhone 13 was launched in India in September this year. Some of the high-end models are priced at Rs 1,80,000.

“iPhone 13 was launched just 2 months ago and its smuggling in such huge volume shows how quickly the smugglers capitalise on every opportunity,” an official part of the DRI investigation was quoted as saying by the Economic Times.

As part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, there has been a sustained effort in increasing mobile phone manufacturing in the country. Hence, the manufacturing of Apple iPhones in India has gone up to 75 percent in 2021 from 5 percent in 2017.

According to an official, the attempted smuggling of such high-value electronic items into the country has the potential to impact the growth of the domestic industry, which was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and just started recovering.

(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)