Mumbai, March 21 The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 11,060 prohibited walkie-talkie sets and used hard disk drives (HDDs) worth a total of Rs 9.25 crore at the Nhava Sheva Port, officials said on Saturday.
The owners of the two Mumbai-based firms that imported these goods without proper permissions are a father and son, and they were arrested under the Customs Act, according to an official release.
Based on specific intelligence, a team of DRI officials seized Baofeng BF-888S walkie-talkies worth Rs 2.50 crore and used HDDs valued at Rs 6.75 crore.
The contraband was concealed among miscellaneous electronic items valued at Rs 21 crore. The entire consignment worth Rs 30.25 crore from eight containers shipped from China was seized for misdeclaration, officials said.
The Baofeng BF-888S walkie-talkies have been blacklisted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) because they operate beyond permissible frequencies and can be used for unauthorized communication, posing a threat to national security. These devices require specific licenses.
Used HDDs also cannot be imported without authorisation from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.