Noida, Nov 14 (IANS): The police in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida have busted a racket involved in the repackaging and selling of counterfeit cigarettes and arrested two individuals, officials said on Saturday. According to the police, the accused used machines to rewrap empty cigarette packs, giving them the appearance of original products. These counterfeit cigarettes were then supplied to small retailers as genuine branded products. Investigators have recovered a total of 4,940 empty cigarette packs of different brands, tobacco, ready-made cigarettes, three packing machines, and a car allegedly used in the smuggling operation.
An official statement said that a team of Phase-2 Police Station in Gautam Buddh Nagar, assisted by local intelligence and beat policing units, were gathering information about suspicious activities when they received a tip-off regarding a gang manufacturing and distributing counterfeit cigarettes. Acting on the information, a police team conducted a raid near Pusta Road in Kakrala and arrested two suspects. The arrested individuals have been identified as Sandeep, son of Dharamveer Singh; and Sandeep alias Sanjeev alias Sunny, son of Mahavir Singh. Both are residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district. During questioning, the accused told the police that they filled tobacco into empty cigarette packs and prepared counterfeit cigarettes.
The cigarettes were then placed in empty packs of brands such as Gold Flake and Capstan and rewrapped using machines. The packaging was designed to closely resemble genuine products so that retailers could easily be deceived. The accused allegedly sold these fake cigarettes to small shopkeepers as genuine branded products and earned profits through the fraudulent operation. Police recovered 3,500 empty Gold Flake cigarette packs and 1,440 empty Capstan packs from the accused. In addition, 700 grams of loose tobacco, 128 Gold Flake cigarettes, and 57 Capstan cigarettes were seized. Three machines used for packaging the counterfeit cigarettes were also confiscated.
Apart from this, a car allegedly used for transporting and distributing the counterfeit products has also been recovered. According to investigators, the second accused, Sandeep alias Sanjeev, already has three criminal cases registered against him at Pahasu police station in Bulandshahr district. In the present case, the Phase-2 police have registered an FIR under Sections 318(4) and 349 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 104 of the Trade Marks Act. Based on the questioning of the accused, police are now gathering information about other individuals linked to the network. Police said separate teams have been formed to trace the key accused believed to be behind the racket. Following this operation, authorities expect to tighten the crackdown on networks engaged in the counterfeit branded cigarette trade. Investigators are also trying to determine how many retailers have so far received fake cigarettes from the accused and the extent to which the illegal network has spread across different regions.
