The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a wanted red sanders smuggler following search operations at premises linked to him in Chennai. The accused, Abdul Jaffer, had failed to appear before the probe agency despite repeated summonses.Jaffer, who was on the run for four years, did not appear before the ED despite repeated summonses, which constituted a deliberate disregard of judicial proceedings. He was brought to Nagpur from Chennai under transit remand and was produced before a court on May 28. The court then sent him to ED custody till May 28.
The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by DRI, Nagpur under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 against Jaffer and others.
ED investigation revealed that Jaffer had smuggled 13 consignments of red sanders to Dubai by way of replacing the declared goods. The value of the total smuggled red sanders has been calculated to be approximately Rs 68 crore, which excludes one consignment intercepted and seized by the DRI, when it was being attempted to be smuggled.