Antique smuggling case: Delhi courier agent held

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested a Delhi-based courier agent on Tuesday in connection with the antique smuggling case that was unearthed on February 7.

Pushpender Singh, 35, is the third person to be arrested in this case. The smuggling of Indian antiques came to light after the DRI arrested a Us-based businessman of Indian origin Vijay Nanda in February. Nanda allegedly tried to smuggle out antiques from the country. He was nabbed after the police recovered several antiques from his godown in Byculla. His accomplice, Udit Jain, was also arrested on March 3.

“We searched Singh’s premises and recorded his statement on Tuesday. He confessed that he used the IEC (Import Export Code) of his firms to help Jain and Nanda smuggle antiques to Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has also admitted declaring them to be handicrafts and artificial rings to hoodwink the authorities,” said a high-ranking DRI officer.

The IEC Code is unique 10 digit code issued to Indian companies while permitting them to import and export.

Singh has been sent to judicial custody.

The DRI had earlier arrested Jain as a part of the Deendayalan syndicate in Chennai for smuggling antiques and old paintings. Deenadayalan is an alleged idol smuggler in Chennai who, sour ces claimed, works with Sub hash Chandra Kapoor who is an infamous idol smuggler in New York.

Kapoor was arrested at a Ger man airport in 2012 after Interpol issued a red corner notice (inter national arrest warrant) against him. He was extradited to India based on the information pro vided by the DRI and is currently in a Chennai jail.