OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS,(Export)
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION AND INTELLEGENCE BRANCH,
Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House, Nhava Sheva,
Dist- Raigad, Maharashtra – 400 707.
Tel No: 27244983: Fax: 27241828, 27241825.

Members of trade, CHA, all the shipping lines, shipping line agents /sub-agents, container lines, container line agents/ sub-agents, freight forwarders etc. are hereby alerted about recent spate of cases, wherein it is found that contraband /prohibited goods (eg. Red Sanders) were exported /attempted to be exported from JNCH /JNPT. Investigations have revealed the following modus operandi adopted by unscrupulous element to effect such fraudulent exports.

1. Mis-use of IEC / CHA Code of exporter / CHA
In some cases it has been noticed that the shipping bills for exporting the contraband goods have been filed by misusing the IECs / CHA Codes of genuine exporters / CHAs. These shipping bills were found to have been filed in the EDI system on the basis of forged CHA passes and authority letters.

To keep a check on such fraudulent exports, all the stake holders like CHAs and Importers/ Exporters are advised to adhere to the Public Notice No. 15/2012 dtd. 9.2.2012 which requires that all the importers/exporters and CHAs must visit the ICEGATE website (www.icegate.gov.in) daily and check the summary of bills of entry/shipping bills filed by them/ in their name from ‘IEC wise summary report’ and ‘CHA wise summary report’ menu available on the website, respectively. The said public notice also requires the importers / exporters / CHA to convey the details of the bills of entry or the shipping bills which were not filed by them, but are shown against their name in the said summary reports immediately to the office of the concerned Commissioner of Customs, JNCH, to facilitate the department in initiating suitable action in respect of such documents filed by unscrupulous elements. The said public notice is available on the web site of the JNCH (http://164.100.155.199/)

2. Use of forged shipping bills for exporting contraband :
In some cases it has been noticed that the contrabands were attempted to be exported on the basis of shipping bills prepared by forging a genuine shipping bill passed by the customs in recent pasts. It was observed that the fraudsters changed the name of the consignee and container number on a genuine shipping bill and brought the container inside the port area on the basis of such forged shipping bill.

Investigations in cases of fraudulent exports using above said modus operandi have revealed that the containers for stuffing these goods were booked by some unscrupulous elements over a mobile phone or by sending an e-mail or a fax, verification of which generally lead to dead ends/ fictitious person/ non existing addresses, resulting in actual perpetrator of the crime getting scot free.

To check such fraudulent exports and also the illegal exports made by following modus operandi mentioned as at 1 above, all the shipping lines, shipping line agents /sub-agents, container lines, container line agents/ sub-agents, freight forwarders etc. who give the containers on lease /rent for stuffing of export cargo are advised to adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) norms prescribed in public notice no.17/2012 dtd. 21.2.2012

3. Replacing of genuine export cargo with contraband during transit between the factory/ICD to JNPT:
Recently some cases have come to notice wherein on examination of the containers it was found that the genuine export cargo was replaced with contraband goods during their transit from factory/ICD to JNPT by opening the doors of the container by removing the clamps / front and rear casting of the door latches. The same were found re-fixed after replacing the genuine cargo with the contraband, with the help of industrial adhesive or welding. Curiously, in these cases the foreign buyers had arranged for transportation of the stuffed container from the factory/ICD to JNPT. The said transporter was found absconding and not traceable for the investigation.

The exporters are advised to be cautious while dealing with the foreign buyers who insist on arranging their own transporter for transporting the goods from the exporters premises to the port.

All the stake holders are once again alerted about the probable smuggling of contrabands by the overseas buyers and fraudsters misusing genuine IEC No. / CHA codes, Containers and their services.

All the associations of importers, exporters, traders, CHA, Shipping line, Container Line, Freight forwarders etc. are requested to alert their members about these instances and also to educate them about the above mentioned public notices.

Sd/- on 28.09.2012
(MANOJ KRISHNA)
COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS(EXPORT)
JNCH

Copy to:
(i) The Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone-II
(ii) The Commissioner of Customs (Import), JNCH
(iii) All the Trade Association
(iv) Bombay Custom House Agents Association
(v) Office Copy