Bhatkal, September 29: A Bhatkal based man was arrested by customs officials at Mumbai International Airport for allegedly smuggling in a Rs 19 lakh Romain Jerome wrist watch from Dubai.
A team of Custom officials led by Deputy Commissioner Sameer Wankhede, who received a tip-off that Ansar Damda (52) was arriving from Dubai, nabbed him when he attempted to pass through the green channel at the Airport in the wee hours of Friday.
Officials said that Damda had hidden the watch in his trousers' pocket. The high-end watch is made by integrating real steel from the Titanic and the Harland and Wolff shipyard where it was built, a Google search showed.
Sameer Wankhede said that Damda has a monthly income of Rs 1 lakh and could not have afforded the watch. "He has two wives and five children and claimed to be running a garment retail business,'' he said.
“Damda said he had purchased the watch for Rs 60,000. He was probably carrying it for someone else,” Wankhede said.
"If Damda was using the watch, he should have been able to explain the source of the funds. He has not filed I-T returns for the last two years. This proves he could not have afforded the watch and it was a case of smuggling,'' Wankhede said. However Damda was later granted bail.
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