Clove-flavoured cigarettes, smugglers' latest favourite

Bengaluru: It’s not just gold but international clove-flavoured cigarettes which are being smuggled in bulk to India to cater to the growing number of smokers back home, who prefer to light up a flavoured puff at whatever price.

And the brand certainly matters. The Customs Department, Bengaluru, on January 30 seized a huge consignment of ‘Esse Lights’ – an international brand of clove flavoured cigarettes (Kretek) from South Korea worth around Rs 1.37 crore from 21 passengers at the Kempegowda International Airport.

“This is the biggest seizure of smuggled cigarettes in one day. In 2015, the Department had seized around seven tonnes of different international brands of cigarettes worth over Rs 4.5 crore from the KIA, which was destroyed at the recycling facility at Doddaballapur. But last weekend, we seized cigarettes worth around Rs 1.37 crore in a single day’s operation from 21 men from Chennai, who were trying to smuggle in the contraband from Singapore and Malaysia,” said a Customs official.

Bulk of the seized cigarettes will be destroyed and recycled to vermicompost at the Doddaballapur facility and some of them may be sold to the National Consumer Cooperative  Federation to be sold in the open market after due diligence and the affixation of the statutory warning.

The Customs seizures reflect growing demand for international, flavoured, especially clove flavoured cigarettes, which pose a bigger health hazard than the normal cigarettes. Going by the Customs seizures the popular brands include ‘Esse Lights’, ‘Garam Gudung’ from Malaysia and Indonesia, ‘Benson & Hedges,’ Marlboro and 555.

Under the Customs Act, 1962 an individual is entitled to carry maximum of 100 cigarettes from overseas. Excess of 100 cigarettes is not considered bona fide baggage and is an offence under the Act.