Authorities at an Indian airport have just seized thousands of Apple iPhone 13 series smartphones. These devices combined were worth over 5 million US Dollars and were caught in the Mumbai Airport.
The DRI (Department of Revenue Intelligence) conducted an investigation that led to over 3,600 units of the Cupertino based giant’s latest iPhones being seized at the airport. The iPhone 13 units were being shipping in from Hong Kong and were being imported into India as ‘memory cards.’ This attempt to ship the large number of iPhones under a false tag was likely to avoid the custom duties that are levied on smartphones in the country.
According to statement from the DRI “After developing precise intelligence, officers of DRI inspected two consignments on Friday. These consignments had arrived from Hong Kong, at the Air Cargo Complex (ACC), Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. In the import documents, the goods were declared as ‘memory cards’. Physical examination, however, revealed that the consignments actually contained a total of 3,646 iPhone 13 mobile phones.” The total value of these iPhones was found to be around 42.86 crore INR (roughly around 5.7 million US Dollars).
Notably, the bust even found 12 units of the newly announced Google Pixel 6 Pro model as well, which was not officially launched in the Indian market. Other products included the Apple Watch wearable as well. These iPhones were seized as they violated the Customs laws and resultant evasion of duty and also on the grounds of potentially impacting the growth of the domestic industry, which was impacted by the the Coronavirus pandemic last year and is still in the process of recovery.
RELATED:
- Apple is working on a futuristic AirPower wireless charging tech: Report
- Apple beats Vivo to emerge as the largest smartphone vendor in China in October 2021
- Apple, Fitbit, & Garmin Smartwatches are heavily discounted for Black Friday 2021 (Amazon US)
Comments