Illegal Export Of 3500 Goats, Sheeps To Dubai Foiled Off Ratnagiri Coast By Pune Customs And Coast Guard
Sumit Singh
Pune, 24th April 2023: Pune Customs Marine team has uncovered a case of illegal export of live stock (goats and sheeps) off the Ratnagiri coast by misdeclaring it as coastal cargo. Such consignment was detected for the first time by the Pune Customs team.
The officers were informed of a coastal movement of livestock from Vijaydurg port (District Sindhudurg) in Maharashtra to Okha port in Gujarat. The vessel set sail towards Okha from Vijaydurg with approximately 3500 livestock on board.
Based on an e-way bill data, it appeared that the livestock originated from Karnataka and was being sent to Gujarat to meet the demands of the upcoming festivities. However, since the supply of livestock from Karnataka to Gujarat did not seem like a general trade practice, the said movement appeared unlikely and suspicious to the Pune Customs officers. There was no previous history of coastal passage of livestock from Sindhudurg/Ratnagiri, which further raised suspicions.
The Pune Customs team had been processing an unconfirmed intel on illegal export from Port Angre in Jaigad, Ratnagiri, and so they decided to place the vessel under monitoring to rule out any case of illegal export.
While one team was monitoring the vessel movement via AIS, another team was deployed at sea to establish visual identification of the passage. However, after 5 hours of sailout, it was found that AIS was switched off, and the vessel was not in the expected vicinity. An alert was immediately forwarded to the Joint Operations Centre, Coast Guard Mumbai.
Coast Guard detected the vessel approximately 90 NM in the open sea and on the course to Dubai. The Pune Customs team requested Coast Guard to intercept the vessel for further inquiry. The Coast Guard intercepted the vessel at sea at around 12:30 am on 21.4.2023. The vessel with livestock was escorted to Jaigad anchorage, where a team of Customs officers conducted a thorough search resulting in the seizure of incriminating elements such as fake shipping bills, invoices, customs clearance, and EGM.
Moreover, the team found the use of fake seals of various authorities, including Customs, and fake import documents pertaining to import in Dubai. The investigation also revealed dubious emigration documents and fake animal health certificates. The vessel, along with the crew and cargo, has been detained for further investigation.
All local authorities, DGS, and Animal Boards/State Veterinary Departments have been alerted, and coordinated relief action is underway.
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