Two held by Customs for raw human hair smuggling

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Tightening its noose around the hair importers on undervalued raw hair exports, the Customs Department has arrested two people, including one businessman.

Industry sources said that the Kolkata Customs is tightening noose on undervalued raw hair exports, as the officers of the Department on Thursday raided the office of an established businessman connected with the human hair trade.

The source said that the racket is a part of larger hawala transaction which may be further investigated by relevant central agencies.

The source said that during searches several incriminating documents and evidence of huge cash transactions related to human hair trade have been retrieved from his premises.

"In this regard, one exporter and one customs clearance agent connected with the human hair consignments cumulatively valued at Rs 9.4 crore, currently under seize at export shed, ACC have been arrested by SIB (Special Investigation Branch)," the source said.

The source said that search for other major players in this undervaluation cartel is still on.

Last month, the Central Customs Department has found smuggling racket of undervaluing the value of the export of the raw human hair from India to other countries and then "smuggling" it to China via land route and has started a probe.

Customs Department has also alerted the officials of the multiple agencies including Goods and Services Tax (GST), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Airport Authorities across India for the new smuggling racket.

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