The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday (July 22) uncovered a large-scale customs fraud involving the import of premium luxury furniture.
Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officials carried out searches at several locations, including business premises, warehouses, offices of freight forwarders, customs brokers, and other related entities.
The investigation has revealed a well-planned network used to undervalue and wrongly declare branded luxury furniture.
This network involved the use of fake importers (IEC holders), intermediaries in India, overseas shell companies, and false invoices.
According to the DRI, the luxury furniture was directly sourced from well-known suppliers in Italy and other European countries by the real beneficiary of the imports. However, invoices were issued in the names of shell companies located in places like Dubai.
At the same time, a Singapore-based intermediary created false invoices for dummy importers, falsely declaring the items as unbranded and undervaluing them for customs clearance.
After customs clearance, the goods were shown on paper as transferred to the actual beneficiary through a local intermediary, but were in fact delivered directly to the final customer.
Initial findings show that the goods were undervalued by 70 per cent to 90 per cent of their real price, leading to customs duty evasion of nearly Rs 30 crore.
The DRI has identified the real importer, the dummy importer, and the intermediary as key people behind the scheme. All three were arrested on July 21 and 22, 2025, under the Customs Act, 1962.
In May 2025, the DRI had uncovered a similar fraud involving the undervaluation of luxury furniture imports. That case also involved duty evasion of over Rs 20 crore and led to the arrest of three individuals.
