'Customs didn't inform us'; Himachal govt on smuggled luxury cars regn by forgery & moles in office

Kochi: A day after the Customs Commissionerate (Preventive), Kochi seized 36 high-end vehicles that were smuggled from Bhutan, including a few registered with Himachal Pradesh (HP) motor vehicle department, the HP government said it would examine the issue and take further actions.  

Neeraj Kumar, Director, Transport, Himachal Pradesh, told Onmanorama that the issue has not been brought to their attention by the Customs department. However, he will definitely look into the issue. If forged documents have been used to get any such smuggled vehicles registered in Himachal Pradesh, the motor vehicle department will initiate actions, including the cancellation of registration, he said.

“They have not communicated anything in writing to us. The registration of vehicles must be done only as per the act (Motor Vehicles Act). If we find any issues with the documents filed before the registering authority, we will check them. If it comes to the knowledge of the registering authority that the document based on which the registration was done was forged, we will de-register it,” Kumar said. 

The Customs department has found that the cars smuggled from Bhutan into India were registered in border states like Himachal Pradesh using fake documents. He said that the smugglers have used the forged documents and seals of the Indian Army and foreign embassies for this and have even manipulated the Parivahan website of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Kochi Customs Commissioner (Preventive) T Tiju said that the website manipulation could be done by smugglers’ moles in the transport departments of respective states.

When Onmanorama asked about this, Kumar said, “We will look into any such allegations when they approach us, and I am sure that they will inform us”. Kumar also said it was the first time such an issue of smuggled vehicles getting registered in Himachal Pradesh was noticed.

However, Tiju, who supervised ‘Operation Numkhor’ in which the vehicles were seized, said that they have contacted the motor vehicle department of various states to collect details about the vehicles, suspected to have been smuggled. “We have already intimated them before launching Operation Numkhor. After the seizure we will again inform them about the findings,” Tiju said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) is yet to launch a parallel inquiry into the seizure of the vehicles in the state. Even though MVD officials accompanied the Customs department during the raids in most places, sources within the department said that they have not decided on how to proceed with it.

Customs found that many of the seized vehicles, with other state registrations, have been plying on Kerala roads for a long time. As per the rules, owners have to re-register the vehicles with the Kerala MVD within a year, but many vehicles have not done that.

“The documents of other-state vehicles are usually checked by MVD for their validity when they are seen on the roads. In this case, many of the seized vehicles were parked in garages. We have accompanied the Customs during the raids, but we have not yet started any probe from our side,” an MVD official said.