Man returning from US held with 25 Shahtoosh shawls

Posted: Thu Sep 15 2011, 01:37 hrs
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In one of the biggest wildlife seizures in over 10 years, the Customs department seized 25 Shahtoosh shawls and other goods worth Rs 1.69 crore from a passenger who arrived from Washington, DC at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday.

Mudasir Gulam Ahmed Mugloo, a resident of Srinagar, who arrived from Washington, DC by flight VS-300 on Tuesday morning, had also not declared USD 21,291/- and GBP 1,025/-, equivalent to Rs 10,29,845, in the Currency Declaration Form (CDF). Mugloo told investigating officials that he had taken these goods to the US for selling. He was returning back to India with the remaining items, he said.

“All goods have been seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 on the reasonable belief that the same were smuggled into India and were, therefore, liable to confiscation under the Custom Act, 1962 read with the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and CITES (The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), to which India is a signatory,” Additional Commissioner (IGIA Customs) Ashutosh Baranwal told Newsline.
Mugloo has been arrested and investigations are on in the case.

On landing at the Delhi Airport, Mugloo was diverted from the Green Channel for a detailed examination on suspicion by the Customs officials.

Earlier, on questioning by Customs, he stated that all garments were Pashmina and no Shahtoosh shawl was present in the baggage. “Detailed examination of his baggage resulted in recovery of 25 Shahtoosh shawls, a prohibited animal article for commerce derived from Scheduled animal. The same was identified and certified by the Inspector of Wildlife from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), New Delhi,” the Customs official said.

Also found with the passenger were 89 Pashmina shawls, 55 stoles in commercial quantity, three watches of different brands, one laptop (Apple Mac Pro), an Apple I-pad (64 GB).

As per Wildlilfe Crime Bureau officials, Shahtoosh is obtained from the under fleece of ‘Chiru’ (Tibetan Antelope), for which it is killed and skinned. International market value of a Shahtoosh shawl ranges between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakhs per piece and can fetch more depending on the handwork and dyeing.

“At least four Chiru Antelopes are killed to make one such shawl,” the official said.

Customs officials said the international market price of the 25 seized Shahtoosh shawls comes to Rs 1.53 crore (24 shawls at Rs 6 lakh each and 1 shawl at Rs 9 lakh). As revealed by the passenger to the officials, the 89 Pashmina shawls are valued at Rs 13. 8 lakh, the 55 stoles are valued at Rs 79,720/- and other goods valued at Rs. 96,056/-. All the goods were seized as they were used to conceal the consignment of Shahtoosh shawls.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Man-returning-from-US-held-with-25-Shahtoosh-shawls/846881/