Rs 3.84 cr sewing needles imported from China seized, three arrested

Based on specific intelligence that sewing machine needles, which would attract anti-dumping duty, were being imported from China by way of misdeclaration and concealment, officers of Chennai Customs intercepted a container having goods declared as shirt pin, sealed rope for garments and Christmas decoration lights, etc., at Thirurani Logistics, Container Freight Station (CFS), Madhavaram, said a statement.

On examination of the container, sewing machine needles were found concealed in the consignment along with the declared items. The goods were imported by Chennai-based importer SLV Trading Company.

Inside the container, the team found 2.87 crore pieces of sewing machine needles valued at Rs 3.84 crore, involving Customs duty of Rs 5.63 crore (including anti-dumping duty ofRs 4.44 crore).

“As the importer had tried to import the consignment improperly by misdeclaration and without payment of appropriate duty, all the products were seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962,” the release said.

The release said the seized consignment was placed under the safe custody of Thirurani Logistics CFS for further investigation. After detailed investigation, two persons – S L Vijay, the Import Export Code (IEC) holder, and Mahaveer Kumar Jain – were arrested for their alleged role in the smuggling of sewing machine needles.

To protect local industry from unfair competition from Chinese products that are being dumped at very low prices, the government had imposed an anti-dumping duty of Rs 1.54 per sewing machine needle (Rs.1,54,732 per lakh needles) through ADD Notification dated June 22, 2017. This is in addition to the normal duty of 21.24 per cent.

But the drama did not end there. According to Customs, the seized container that was kept at Thirurani Logistics was taken away from the freight station by furnishing forged documents. But soon enough, the goods were traced at a godown belonging to NK Logistics General Warehouse while the stolen container was found at a dump yard nearby. One person, Uka Ram, has been arrested for illegally removing the goods from the CFS.