Woman held for smuggling in memory cards

January 6, 2012

smugler

Bangalore, January 6: A 40-year-old woman was held on Thursday morning for smuggling in 31,520 micro-secure digital chips from Hong Kong.

Officials of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), Customs, at Bangalore International Airport (BIA) caught Rosy Bhatia from Delhi red-handed as she tried to walk away with the chips worth Rs 63.04 lakh, packed in 53 polythene pouches and concealed in her stockings, hidden under a salwar suit.

The cards, bearing the “Made in Taiwan” tag, were being smuggled into the country.

The customs sleuths intercepted her after she alighted from a Dragon Airways aircraft from Hong Kong around 2 am and immediately arrested her for offences under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Rosy Bhatia, according to a senior AIU official, was carrying approximately 31,520 such cards with the capacity of two gigabytes on her.

The officials, following a tip-off, waited for Rosy Bhatia to arrive and watched her moves. She passed through the green channel without declaring the goods and the value in the customs declaration slip. Questioned by the Customs, she simply said she had nothing to declare.

“She was a smart woman. She had packed these chips in 53 small polythene pouches which were concealed in her stockings, over which she was wearing a salwar,” said an official at the airport.

The AIU team had received specific intelligence from their Delhi counterparts that she would be smuggling in memory cards into the country.

“It was not viable to wait until she reached Delhi although she had an early morning flight to Delhi today (Thursday). There were chances of her disposing the smuggled articles in Bangalore, making it difficult to trace,” the official explained.

Initial interrogation revealed that this was the first time she was travelling through Bangalore. Besides, she had no history (cases registered) against her for smuggling.

“It is very difficult to believe that she was smuggling for the first time. The trade has been going on for sometime,” the official said. Her passport revealed that she had been to Hong Kong over 10 times in the last six months and the duration of her stay was between a day and two on most occasions.

“She would travel to Hong Kong and other places in South-East Asia on the excuse of buying textile goods to sell in India,” another official said.

Rosy Bhatia was produced before a local court here and was granted conditional bail.

Stating that there is a larger network operating in the country, officials said last month a passenger was caught at Kolkata airport, travelling from the same country and smuggling the same good, using the same modus operandi.

Also, a similar consignment was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence here about six weeks ago, officials said.

They said there was a huge demand for such products in the country. “Our telecom market is growing. With electronic goods like this attracting 27-30 per cent in duties, smuggling them is very lucrative,” the official said.

Gaffar Market in Delhi, National Market and SP? Road in Bangalore, Heera Panna in Mumbai, Fancy Market in Kolkata and similar places in other key cities of the country play home to several shops that sell these products at discounted rates, hurting the licensed retail outlets.

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Agencies
April 11,2020

Hyderabad, Apr 11: With the Telangana government banning spitting in public places in the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic, a police case has been registered here against a man for violating the rule.

During vehicle-checking on Friday, police found the man spitting on the road here and registered a case against him for disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant, police said.

Spitting in public places and institutions has been banned in the state in view of the pandemic with the government saying such acts pose a serious threat of leading to spread of infections.

"In the interest of public health and safety, the spitting of paan/any chewable tobacco or non-tobacco product, sputum in public places & institutions is hereby BANNED with immediate effect," a gvernment notification said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in both personal as well as public spheres, the April 6 notification issued by the Health, Medical and Family Welfare department said.

"It is of utmost need to impose restrictions on unhealthy practices that may potentially lead to spread of such viruses and other infections," it said.

The habit of public spitting poses a serious threat of leading to spread of such infections, the notification added.

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News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: A 10-month-old girl allegedly lost her life in an accident in West Delhi's Tilak Nagar area, the police said on Sunday.

"The incident took place when the baby was in the compound of the parking area at the ground floor of her residence and the driver of Mercedes Benz was reversing the car," a police official said.

The deceased was identified as Radhika, whose father Rakesh used to work as the security guard in the said residence.

The unfortunate incident occurred at around 3.30 p.m. in the afternoon following which the baby was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital where she was declared brought dead.

The owner of the said Mercedes Benz SUV is identified as Jassbir Singh who is into elevator business. At the time of the incident, his driver Akhilesh was driving the said vehicle.

"The offending vehicle has also been taken into possession and the FSL team is being summoned for inspection. Investigation in this matter is underway," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) West Delhi.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

New Delhi, Jan 6: A blind student who is pursuing research in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was also attacked by the mob that perpetrated violence in the University yesterday.

"I thought that the mob which came yesterday would disperse after raising a few slogans but they indulged in violence. They were targeting ABVP students. They beat me with sticks and rods. When I went to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, I came to know that there are many other injured students there," Surya Prakash, the blind student pursuing research in the University told ANI.

"I talked to my family members. They are really worried about the situation here. I qualified in the National Eligibility Test (NET) last year but I want to study and hence I am continuing research in JNU. How can we do anything in this atmosphere of fear? I am receiving calls from anonymous numbers threatening me not to come in front of the media. They are saying that as I am blind, I would become the face of this case," he added.

Another PhD student, Santosh Bhagat recounted his experience.

"In the evening at around 7 pm, many masked men entered the hostel. They had rods and sticks in their hands. We tried to go out but the attackers had entered the premises by then. I locked my room from inside but the attackers broke the door and entered my room and attacked me. They pushed me from the first floor and I fell down and sustained an injury. Later, I took shelter at one of the Professor's flat. Later, I was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Cantre," Bhagat said.

On Sunday evening, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, were injured and were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

The JNU administration and political leaders, cutting across political lines, condemned the attack on students and urged the police to take action against the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, the situation remained tense but peaceful outside JNU on Monday morning as the university guards maintained a strict vigil at the gate, checking I-cards of all those entering the university.

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