Inside Hyderabad's luxury car smuggling ring: How Basharat Ahmed Khan used Dubai, Sri Lanka to evade customs

HYDERABAD: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) investigators have arrested city-based luxury car dealership proprietor Basharat Ahmed Khan in connection with a 25 crore customs duty evasion case. He was produced before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Ahmedabad, which remanded him in judicial custody.Khan, who operates Car Lounge & Luxury Car Importer, had been importing cars from ports across India, including Gujarat. DRI officials from Ahmedabad arrested him in Hyderabad and later produced in a court there. He has been charged with being a key player in an elaborate import undervaluation racket involving high-end vehicles brought into India by mis-declaring their value.Specific intelligence led DRI officers to unearth a fraudulent scheme where luxury cars were first routed through Dubai and Sri Lanka from countries like the United States and Japan. There, they were modified from left-hand drive (LHD) to right-hand drive (RHD) before being imported to India. Using forged documents, the importers allegedly undervalued the vehicles by nearly 50%, thereby evading massive customs duties.Khan, whose dealership Car Lounge operates from a premises opposite the Cyberabad police commissionerate in Gachibowli, was said to have imported eight such luxury cars with a cumulative duty evasion of over 7 crore.Companies linked to Khan - CLFIVE Automotives Private Limited, BAK Carlounge Services Private Limited, and BAK Car Lounge Private Limited - are now under scrutiny. According to DRI, the fraudulent imports were conducted on behalf of end-users, who are under probe.