New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) In one of the largest such seizures, Customs officers here have seized a consignment of polished diamonds worth Rs 1.56 crore being sent out of India under false labelling, officials said on Friday.
According to the information, the parcel was detected by officers of Air Cargo Export Commissionerate on Thursday.
"When the officials examined a consignment declared as plastic hot fix with a value of Rs 5,000, they got suspicious. The said consignment was then opened. On examination, a packet containing pouches of cut and polished diamonds was found inside it. These diamonds were concealed very ingeniously in the packets of 'plastic hot fix'," said an official.
The official said that packet of diamonds also had the hot fix pasted on it to avoid detection.
The said consignment, worth Rs 1.56 crore, was meant to be sent to Hong Kong.
"This appears to be a unique case of sending diamonds out of the country through concealment in the parcels through air cargo. This is one of the largest seizures of polished diamonds at Air Cargo Export, Delhi in recent times. We have informed the other agencies regarding it," said the official.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has raised the banner of revolt against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, met former party chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday evening soon after meeting party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
After attending the recent all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, two former chief ministers of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti stood miles apart.
A delegation of Sikh leaders on Tuesday met Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy over the recent incident of forcible religious conversion of two Sikh girls in the Kashmir valley and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday favoured the need to start breeding crocodiles in the state's rivers, especially the Beas and the Sutlej, as they were found in abundance six decades ago.
Facing massive statewide agitation by farmers over power outages, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday issued directions to ensure eight-hour uninterrupted power supply and to purchase deficient power from outside the state at any cost to prevent any supply disruption in the ongoing sowing season.
