New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS): The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Monday that it has seized e-cigarettes estimated to be worth Rs 48 crore from the Mundra Port in Gujarat on September 16 as part of its operation to combat smuggling of e-cigarettes, the use and sale of which is banned in India.

An official said that acting on a tip-off that e-cigarettes were being smuggled by way of mis-declaration and concealment through Mundra Port, a container was identified and tracked.

Once it reached Mundra Port, the container was inspected.

"Investigation revealed that the goods were wrongly declared as 'floor cleaning mop'. During examination of the container, all the cartons inside it were opened. It was found that apart from some cartons containg floor cleaning mop, several boxes contained hand massager, LCD writing pad, and Silicone pop-up toys which were not declared," the official said.

Further search revealed that there were 250 more cartons which contained contained 2 lakh pieces of e-cigarette of 2500 puff variant, while one carton contained 400 pieces of e-cigarettes of 5000 puff variant, all of 'Yuotoa' brand, made in China.

The e-cigarettes and all other accompanying goods in the container were seized under the provisions of Customs Act. The official said the market value of the seized e-cigarettes will be around Rs 48 crore.