The Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday (July 22) uncovered a large-scale customs fraud involving the import of premium luxurious furnishings.
Performing on particular intelligence, DRI officers carried out searches at a number of places, together with enterprise premises, warehouses, workplaces of freight forwarders, customs brokers, and different associated entities.
The investigation has revealed a well-planned community used to undervalue and wrongly declare branded luxurious furnishings.
This community concerned the usage of faux importers (IEC holders), intermediaries in India, abroad shell firms, and false invoices.
In line with the DRI, the posh furnishings was straight sourced from well-known suppliers in Italy and different European nations by the true beneficiary of the imports. Nonetheless, invoices had been issued within the names of shell firms positioned in locations like Dubai.
On the identical time, a Singapore-based middleman created false invoices for dummy importers, falsely declaring the gadgets as unbranded and undervaluing them for customs clearance.
After customs clearance, the products had been proven on paper as transferred to the precise beneficiary by means of a neighborhood middleman, however had been actually delivered on to the ultimate buyer.
Preliminary findings present that the products had been undervalued by 70 per cent to 90 per cent of their actual worth, resulting in customs obligation evasion of practically Rs 30 crore.
The DRI has recognized the true importer, the dummy importer, and the middleman as key individuals behind the scheme. All three had been arrested on July 21 and 22, 2025, below the Customs Act, 1962.
In Could 2025, the DRI had uncovered an identical fraud involving the undervaluation of luxurious furnishings imports. That case additionally concerned obligation evasion of over Rs 20 crore and led to the arrest of three people.
