Daijiworld Media Network - Kochi

Kochi, Mar 7: The Customs Commissionerate has arrested five individuals from West Bengal and Assam in connection with the smuggling of high-end used cars from Bhutan, officials said on Saturday.

The arrested include Biswadip Das of Jaigaon, Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), Dipak Patowary of Paltanbazar, Kamrup; Ayub Ali of Jogighopa, Bongaigaon; MD Mostafa Ahmed of Boladmari, Goalpara; and Jalal Mandal of Chapar, Dhubri — all four from Assam. Patowary is a former District Transport Officer of Bongaigaon.

Officials said the arrests follow a widespread investigation in Assam and West Bengal, assisted by police and Customs units in the northeastern states. Investigations revealed that the accused had registered 460 vehicles using forged documents, including foreign-made cars and Indian vehicles previously exported and illegally smuggled back without payment of customs duties.

The Kochi Customs Commissionerate had launched Operation Numkhor last year after uncovering a network that illegally smuggled high-end SUVs from Bhutan, re-registered them in India, and sold them as legally imported vehicles. Some seized vehicles had even been sold to film actors in Kerala.

Biswadip Das, arrested on February 22, is an employee of a major IT firm and was identified as the mastermind behind the Bhutan car smuggling racket. He was apprehended near the India-Bhutan border and brought to Kochi on a transit warrant before being remanded to judicial custody.

Customs officials said they will approach the court for custody of the other arrested individuals for further investigation. A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India found that 15,849 vehicles with identical chassis and engine numbers had been registered in multiple northeastern states.