CHENNAI: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths seized 4.6 lakh spurious cigarette sticks worth over Rs 9.2 crore smuggled from Thailand at Chennai port. Based on specific tip-off that fake cigarettes are being smuggled via sea from Thailand, DRI sleuths searched a container that reached Chennai port in a ship. The container had been declared to carry a tabletop fireplace, but the DRI team found the container had foreign-brand cigarettes concealed inside it.

According to DRI the seized cigarettes could be fake and have sent them to the laboratory for analysis. Since there was no claimant for the consignment, DRI could not arrest anyone. An investigation is on to identify the smuggler. Previously, customs sleuths seized 20 lakh cigarette sticks worth Rs 3.5 crore at Chennai port which arrived from Dubai in December. In August too, DRI seized 1 crore fake cigarette sticks of an Indian worth Rs 15 crore smuggled from Thailand and Dubai.