Apple iPhone Smuggling Racket Busted By DRI, Devices Worth Rs 42.86 Crore Seized

The Mumbai unit of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized more than 3,600 handsets of the iPhone 13 lineup, Google Pixel 6 and Apple Watch in an iPhone smuggling racket bust.

Apple iPhone Smuggling Racket Busted By DRI, Devices Worth Rs 42.86 Crore Seized/Getty

New Delhi: The Mumbai unit of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized more than 3,600 handsets of the iPhone 13 lineup, as the agency busted one of the biggest Apple iPhone smuggling rackets late on Sunday. According to the federal agency, the iPhone models that included the iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro were imported and described as memory cards, as mentioned in the import documents. The value of the seized gadgets is around Rs 42.86 crore.

The seized consignments included 2,245 iPhone 13 Pro models, 1,401 iPhone 13 Pro Max devices, 12 Google Pixel 6 Pro models and one Apple Watch. 

“After developing precise intelligence, officers of DRI inspected two consignments on Friday. These consignments had arrived from Hong Kong, at the Air Cargo Complex (ACC), Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. In the import documents, the goods were declared as “memory cards”. Physical examination, however, revealed that the consignments actually contained a total of 3,646 iPhone-13 mobile phones,” the DRI said in a statement.

This comes at a time when the Apple iPhone 13 has hit a roadblock due to the global chip crisis. The biggest concern for the tech and auto industries is the global shortage of semiconductor production.

Apple iPhone 13 series went officially available in India in September with prices starting at Rs 69,990. The iPhone 13 lineup includes the iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro max.

The latest iPhone 13 series is built around Apple's new proprietary A15 Bionic chip that has a 6 core CPU with two high-performance and four efficient cores along with a 16-core Neural Engine.