Bhutan car smuggling: Illegally imported Land Cruiser sold as embassy vehicle to Kochi man, broker booked
The complainant in the case is one of the owners whose vehicles were seized by the Customs in Operation Numkhor in October last year.
The complainant in the case is one of the owners whose vehicles were seized by the Customs in Operation Numkhor in October last year.
The complainant in the case is one of the owners whose vehicles were seized by the Customs in Operation Numkhor in October last year.
Kochi: The Ernakulam Central Police have registered a fresh case against a New Delhi-based individual for allegedly defrauding a Kochi resident of ₹14 lakh by selling an illegally imported Toyota Land Cruiser under the guise of it being a diplomatic vehicle. The case, registered on Sunday, is linked to the 'Operation Numkhor' launched by the Customs to crack down on vehicles smuggled from Bhutan and re-registered in India using forged documents.
The complainant in the case is one of the owners whose vehicles were seized by the Customs in Operation Numkhor in October last year.
The complaint was filed by Mohammed Yahya, a 22-year-old resident of Edapally, who accused Rohit Bedi of Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi, of criminal breach of trust and cheating. According to the police, the accused, who is a vehicle broker, allegedly deceived the buyer by presenting a high-end Toyota Land Cruiser as a vehicle previously used by the Indian Embassy, a common lure used by fraudsters to explain the competitive pricing of luxury SUVs.
Trusting this representation, the victim agreed to purchase the vehicle for ₹14 lakh. The financial transaction, which is now a key part of the investigation, was executed in multiple stages between June and July 2024. The deal commenced with a cash payment of ₹50,000 on June 29, followed by a bank transfer of ₹4.5 lakh from the complainant's bank account to the accused's account on July 1.
Upon the vehicle's delivery, a friend of the complainant, Shibin Ahmed, handed over an additional ₹5 lakh in cash, while the final balance of ₹4 lakh was transferred via bank on the same day.
However, later the vehicle, bearing a Himachal Pradesh registration number, was seized by the Customs, citing that it was illegally imported. Since the vehicle was not an embassy vehicle as promised, the owner filed the complaint, citing that he was cheated by selling him a car that had been illegally imported from Bhutan and re-registered in India to mask its origin.
This specific modus operandi mirrors the patterns identified in Operation Numkhor, where syndicates import SUVs into Bhutan, where taxes are lower, or buy used cars and smuggle them into India. To evade India's steep import duties, these rings often forge No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from high-trust institutions like the Ministry of External Affairs or the Army, subsequently registering the cars in states like Himachal Pradesh (HP) before selling them to unsuspecting buyers in Kerala and other southern states.
The Ernakulam Central Police have charged Rohit Bedi under Sections 406 (Criminal Breach of Trust) and 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. Sub-Inspector Anoop C has been assigned to lead the probe. "The complaint claims he was cheated. We are verifying the documents related to the purchase and the bank transactions. A detailed probe is required," said a police officer.