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2017 (11) TMI 619 - AT - CustomsSmuggling - Cigarettes - fake and forged documents - forged Bills of Entry and gate passes - confiscation - penalties. Held that: - Regarding the sale of cigarettes, it may be mentioned that cigarette is a perishable items which was rightly sold by the Department as there was no claimant for the same. It is claimed that the duty was paid on cigarettes, but in the impugned order it is mentioned that duty was never paid. Further, the Appellant claimed that he was not the importer. It appears that there was a syndicate of smugglers where the Departmental persons were also involved. It is surprising that eight containers have been removed from the Tukhalabad Dry Port on forged documents without paying any duty, even duty payment challan was forged. This is a glaring example of smuggling. Smuggling is a cancer impacting national economy for which all the Appellants were making their contribution directly or indirectly, as briefly discussed above. The forged ID was used, false documents were prepared. Confiscation and penalties upheld - In fact, the Department has taken a lenient view by imposing lesser penalty/punishment. Unfortunately, the Tribunal has no power to enhance the penalty/punishment. So, we uphold the impugned order in toto for the reasons mentioned therein. Appeal dismissed - decided against appellant.
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