Two held with over 58,000 illegal cigarettes in Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) Delhi Police arrested two men who were allegedly involved in illegal trade of international cigarette brands in south Delhi, an official said on Friday.

Over 58,500 prohibited cigarettes worth Rs 6 lakh were seized from Naresh Gupta (42) and Vijay Gupta (49), the official said.

On December 25, a raid was conducted at a shop in Arjun Nagar, run by Naresh Gupta, he said.

Authorities seized 3,300 illegal cigarettes from the shop and subsequently a larger cache of 55,200 cigarettes of different brands from his house, the police said.

Further investigation revealed Naresh’s connection to Vijay Gupta, owner of a cigarette store in Kotla Mubarakpur area, they said.

A second raid at Vijay’s store resulted in the recovery of 3,200 illegal cigarettes, they added.

The accused disclosed that they procured the cigarettes from traders in the Khari Baoli area at discounted rates. They would store the contraband and distribute it to smaller shops and pan kiosks for profits, the official said.

“Naresh has been running his cigarette shop for three years and Vijay Gupta’s family has been in the cigarette trade for over 25 years,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Bhisham Singh said.