Pune customs foils bid for livestock smuggling to Dubai | Pune News – Times of India

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[google-translator]

PUNE: The Pune customs along with the coast guard recently foiled an attempt to smuggle thousands of livestock (goats and sheep) off the Ratnagiri coast, to Dubai, by falsely declaring it as coastal cargo.
According to information, this is a novel modus operadi detected for the first time by the Pune customs authorities.
Officers of the Marine team of the Pune customs were informed of a coastal movement of livestock from Vijaydurg port in the Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra to Okha port in Gujarat.

Based on an e-way bill data, it appeared that total of approximately 3500 livestock originated from Karnataka and was being sent to Gujarat to meet the demands of the upcoming festivities. The vessel set sail towards Okha from Vijaydurg at around 9am on April 20, officials said.
Since supply of livestock from Karnataka to Gujarat did not appear to be a general trade practice and there was no previous history of coastal passage of livestock from Sindhudurg/Ratnagiri, the said movement appeared unlikely and suspicious, authorities added.
Since the team was simultaneously processing an unconfirmed intel on illegal export from Port Angre in Jaigad in the Ratnagiri district ,it was decided to place the vessel under monitoring to rule out any case of illegal export.

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While one team was monitoring the vessel movement via AIS (Automatic Identification System), another team was deployed at sea such that a visual id of passage could be established, officials pointed out.
However, after 5 hours of sailout, it was found that AIS was switched off and the vessel was not in the expected vicinity. An alert was immediately forwarded to Joint Operations Centre, Coastguard Mumbai.
An Indian coast guard ships (ICGS) was able to detect the vessel approximately 90 nautical miles in the open sea and on the course to Dubai.
A request was made by the customs team to intercept the vessel for further inquiry, officials said. The ICGS was able to intercept the vessel at sea at around 12:30am on April 21.
The vessel with livestock was escorted to Jaigad anchorage where a team of customs officers conducted thorough search resulting in seizure of incriminating elements such as fake shipping bills, invoices, fake customs clearance etc.
Also it was found that fake seals of different authorities including that of customs had been used. Also, the team found fake import documents pertaining to import at Dubai and dubious immigration documents as well as fake animal health certificates.
The vessel, along with crew and cargo has been detained for investigation. Officials said that Investigation was underway in addition to relief action.
Officials added that all local authorities animal boards and state veterinary departments have been alerted.

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