Mangalore, November 3: Officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested two passengers at the Bajpe airport on Saturday and seized 25 kg of saffron of Iranian origin and 3,700 memory cards of Rs three lakh from them.
The arrested are Mohammed Ali, a resident of Anangoor and Ahmed Nisar of Nellikkunnu in Kasaragod district of Kerala.
The duo were traveling in Air India 814 Dubai - Mangalore flight carrying saffron and memory cards of Rs illegally. Upon examination of their baggage, the DRI officials found saffron of Iranian concealed in carbon sheets containing dress materials/food stuffs etc.
The DRI officers have registered a case against the accused for bringing in saffron as an undeclared consignment. Further investigation is under progress.
Sources in DRI said that while saffron per se is not placed on the list of items that can be imported, the person bringing it in should declare it while checking out. The crackdown on Iranian saffron is mainly to protect the interests of saffron growers in Jammu and Kashmir and Ludhiana in Punjab. Saffron unlike other contraband goods is easy to bring in undetected and the profit margins involved in its trading is very high, sources stated.




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